WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The end is near. Probably.
By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The end is near. Probably.
After five months of voting, 16 months of campaigning and more surprises, reversals and comebacks than any U.S. political race deserves, the grueling duel for the Democratic presidential nomination could be entering its final days.
With three small nominating contests left, Barack Obama has moved within a few dozen delegates of beating rival Hillary Clinton and securing the right to face Republican John McCain in November's presidential election.
!ADVERTISEMENT!When the last votes are counted in Montana and South Dakota on Tuesday night, Obama will have either just enough delegates to the August convention to clinch the nomination or be just a few short.
If he is shy of the magic number, a flurry of endorsements from some of the nearly 200 uncommitted superdelegates -- party leaders who can back any candidate -- would easily put him over the top and likely send Clinton to the sidelines.
"After June 3, you're going to see a wave of superdelegates beginning to go Obama's way," said Democratic consultant Chris Kofinis, an aide to former U.S. Sen. John Edwards during his presidential bid this year.
"And when Sen. Obama reaches the magic number, whenever that is, Sen. Clinton is going to do what every Democrat will do -- acknowledge he is the Democratic nominee and help unify the party to defeat John McCain in November."
For weeks, Clinton has shrugged off calls to step aside before the voting concludes in their back-and-forth battle for the nomination. She also has called for an agreement to allow the delegates from disputed contests in Florida and Michigan to be seated at the convention.
Clinton still says superdelegates should consider her argument that she would be a stronger candidate against McCain in November than Obama.
"This is going down to the wire. Neither one of us have the number of delegates yet that would secure the nomination," the New York senator and former first lady, said on Thursday in Huron, South Dakota.
The final three contests are in Puerto Rico on Sunday, and Montana and South Dakota on Tuesday. A party committee will try to resolve the Florida and Michigan dispute on Saturday.
STEP ASIDE
Clinton aides have hinted she will be willing to step aside once the final issues are resolved, and even some of her staunchest supporters see the end coming.
"I'm a realist, and I think most likely the superdelegates will give Sen. Obama the votes he needs," Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, who endorsed Clinton and helped her win his home state in April, told Bloomberg Television on Wednesday.
"I think it's very unlikely that Sen. Clinton can prevail. I think that means we're not going to field our strongest candidate," he said.
Obama, an Illinois senator, made his expectations clear.
"We've got three contests in succession, and at that point all the information will be in," Obama told reporters on Wednesday. "There will be no more questions unanswered. I suspect that whatever remaining superdelegates will be able to make their decisions quickly after that."
Once he has enough delegates to clinch the nomination, Obama said, "then I'm the nominee."
An MSNBC delegate count gives Obama 1,982 delegates, 44 short of the 2,026 now needed to win the nomination.
If the rules committee seats the Florida and Michigan delegations, it could add to the total needed to win. Seating half the delegates from each state, a compromise to be considered on Saturday, would put the finish line at 2,118.
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said the campaign was anxious to shift into a full-time general election battle with McCain.
"Our goal is to get to the nomination number as quickly as we can so that we can move our entire focus to the general election because, you know, the clock is ticking here," he said.
(Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro in South Dakota, editing by David Wiessler)
(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)
