Spring Break
After 35 million votes, it looks like Obama's the winner
June 3, 2008
Steven Thomma - McClatchy NewspapersIssue date: 5/29/08 Section: Real News
WASHINGTON _ Five months to the day after it started, voting in the Democratic presidential primaries will end Tuesday night with Barack Obama inches short of the nomination.
The last vote of 35 million-plus will be cast in Montana sometime around 10 p.m. EDT, and it will start the final hours of the historic clash between Obama and rival Hillary Clinton for the last unelected delegates with the power to put one of them over the top. All signs point to an Obama victory, perhaps as early as Wednesday.
The Illinois senator Monday was within 44 delegates of reaching the 2,118 needed to clinch the nomination after five more unelected super delegates came out for him.
Clinton, the New York senator, appeared all but mathematically eliminated.
She was 201 delegates short of the prize, with 243 delegates either uncommitted or still to be decided, according to the Associated Press count. The remaining delegates include 31 to be elected Tuesday in Montana and South Dakota and 157 unelected super delegates who haven't committed to Clinton or Obama.
That means Clinton faced the almost insurmountable task of winning either 83 percent of the remaining delegates or winning over some super delegates who've committed to Obama. She pointed to one who switched to her over the weekend, but only one.
Confident of victory, Obama planned to mark the end of the long primary campaign with a rally looking ahead to the general election in St. Paul, Minnesota, at the site of this year's Republican National Convention.
Clinton was heading home to New York for a Tuesday appearance before supporters. Her campaign sent its advance teams home, unsure of her plans past Tuesday.
Former president Bill Clinton spoke what sounded like a valedictory Monday for his wife's campaign.
"This may be the last day I'm ever involved in a campaign of this kind," Clinton told a campaign rally in South Dakota. "I thought I was out of politics, till Hillary decided to run. But it has been one of the greatest honors of my life to go around and campaign for her for president."
The last vote of 35 million-plus will be cast in Montana sometime around 10 p.m. EDT, and it will start the final hours of the historic clash between Obama and rival Hillary Clinton for the last unelected delegates with the power to put one of them over the top. All signs point to an Obama victory, perhaps as early as Wednesday.
The Illinois senator Monday was within 44 delegates of reaching the 2,118 needed to clinch the nomination after five more unelected super delegates came out for him.
Clinton, the New York senator, appeared all but mathematically eliminated.
She was 201 delegates short of the prize, with 243 delegates either uncommitted or still to be decided, according to the Associated Press count. The remaining delegates include 31 to be elected Tuesday in Montana and South Dakota and 157 unelected super delegates who haven't committed to Clinton or Obama.
That means Clinton faced the almost insurmountable task of winning either 83 percent of the remaining delegates or winning over some super delegates who've committed to Obama. She pointed to one who switched to her over the weekend, but only one.
Confident of victory, Obama planned to mark the end of the long primary campaign with a rally looking ahead to the general election in St. Paul, Minnesota, at the site of this year's Republican National Convention.
Clinton was heading home to New York for a Tuesday appearance before supporters. Her campaign sent its advance teams home, unsure of her plans past Tuesday.
Former president Bill Clinton spoke what sounded like a valedictory Monday for his wife's campaign.
"This may be the last day I'm ever involved in a campaign of this kind," Clinton told a campaign rally in South Dakota. "I thought I was out of politics, till Hillary decided to run. But it has been one of the greatest honors of my life to go around and campaign for her for president."
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