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Obama says victory a week away
29/05/2008 19:34 - (SA)
Washington - White House hopeful Barack Obama's campaign said on Thursday he was on the verge of clinching the Democratic nomination once his bruising battle with Hillary Clinton climaxes next week.
"I would say either on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, we'll know the Democratic nominee," Obama's communications director Robert Gibbs said on MSNBC television.
"And I can predict for you right here on the show that that Democratic nominee will be Barack Obama," he said.
After nearly six months of arduous, coast-to-coast campaigning, Obama is in striking distance of gaining enough Democratic delegates to earn the right to take on Republican John McCain in November's presidential election.
On Saturday, the Democratic Party's rules and bylaws committee will meet to adjudicate on one of the biggest controversies left: whether Florida and Michigan delegates should be reinstated after a scheduling row.
Then on Sunday, Puerto Rico holds its primary followed by the last two contests on Tuesday in Montana and South Dakota.
'No more questions answered'
"And at that point, all the information will be in. There will be no more questions answered," Obama told reporters aboard his plane late Wednesday.
Once the primary season is over, Democratic grandees known as superdelegates "will make their decisions pretty quickly after that," the Illinois senator said.
On Thursday Obama won the support of Oregon superdelegate Gail Rasmussen and according to his campaign, he needs just 44 more delegates to reach the current winning line of 2 026.
While that number could go up depending on a Florida-Michigan fix this weekend, both candidates would still need the support of enough superdelegates to go over the top. But Obama would need far fewer.
In any case, in recent weeks, both McCain and Obama have been pummelling each other and leaving Clinton largely out of the mix as the contours of a general election battle take shape.
Clinton's last chance
Meanwhile the former first lady, vowing no compromise on allowing Florida and Michigan back into the fray despite their violation of the primary calendar in January, is pursuing an 11th hour bid to deprive Obama of the nomination.
Clinton Wednesday wrote to the nearly 800 superdelegates to try to persuade them she was more likely to beat McCain in November's general election.
"I believe I am best prepared to lead this country as president, and best prepared to put together a broad coalition of voters to break the lock Republicans have had on the electoral map and beat Senator McCain," she wrote.
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the nation's top elected Democrat who is to preside over the party's August convention, said she would "step in" if there is no resolution by late June about Florida and Michigan.
"Because we cannot take this fight to the convention. It must be over before then," Pelosi said.
- AFP
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US Elections Special Report
