By IANS,
Washington : Democratic presidential candidates Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton split the latest primary rounds late Tuesday in Oregon and Kentucky as they battle to clinch the Democratic nomination for the general election next fall.
Clinton won 65 percent of the ballots in Kentucky compared with 30 percent for Obama who won around 58 Percent of the ballots in Oregon to 42 percent for Clinton.
“Tonight we have achieved an important victory,” Clinton told her supporters in Louisville, Kentucky with her husband former president Bill Clinton and her daughter Chelsea standing next to her.
“It’s not just Kentucky bluegrass that’s music to my ears. It’s the sound of your overwhelming vote of confidence even in the face of some pretty tough odds.” she added.
Regardless of the results of the night’s two primaries, Obama decided to mark a victory of sorts by going back to Iowa not to Oregon or Kentucky to mark his critical Jan. 3rd caucus triumph that launched him on his way through the primaries that followed.
Obama said that winning the majority of the pledged delegates made him “within reach of the Democratic nomination.” He tried to reach out to Clintons supporters to vote for him in the general election by commending her work and her “battle which changed America and gave a chance to my two daughters.” “Change is coming to America,” Obama said as he continued his harsh criticism for his Republican opponent Senator John McCain because of his support for president Bushs strategy in Iraq and his position on domestic issues.
Despite the Clintons sweep in Kentucky Obama reached the 1627 delegate barrier which gave him the majority of the 3253 pledged delegates up for grabs in all primaries.
Obama still unable to reach the 2026 delegates required to win the nomination, while Clinton still in her fight to win more states to convince the partys superdelegates “the party insiders who are not tied to primary or caucus results” that shes the better candidate to lead the party to win the presidential elections against the Republican nominee Senator John McCain.
However, having a majority of delegates elected in state primaries and caucuses could help Obama’s case with undecided superdelegates to pick up the pace of their endorsements.
Superdelegate support is crucial because neither candidate will have enough delegates from the remaining primaries in Montana, South Dakota and Puerto Rico to clinch the nomination.
Clinton argues that shell be a stronger, more experienced candidate against the Republican opponent Senator John McCain since she has won the states necessary to determine the general election like Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Including superdelegates, Obama won around 1,941 delegates to Clinton’s 1, 758 which means that neither candidate would reach the magic number of 2,026 delegates needed to nominate a candidate at the party’s national convention in Denver in late August.