FixCam Week in Preview: The End

After 152 days and 56 contests, the Democratic presidential nomination fight between Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) comes to a close tomorrow as South Dakota and Montana hold the final primaries.

Obama has emerged over the last month as the de facto nominee thanks to his steady triple- digit delegate lead over Clinton.

Clinton picked up 22 delegates on Obama in Sunday's Puerto Rico primary but the Illinois senator still led the overall delegate tally 2,068 to 1,915. To formally be declared the party's nominee one of the two must secure 2,118 delegates. Obama is expected to crest that mark by the middle of this week.

Obama spoke yesterday in Mitchell, S.D., and sounded every bit the party's nominee. He congratulated Clinton on her win in Puerto Rico and added that the New York senator would be "a great asset when we go into November." He spent the majority of his stump speech outside the famed Corn Palace attacking Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), his likely general election foe.

Despite the seeming mathematical certainty of her defeat, Clinton sounded very much ready to continue the contest into the summer following her Puerto Rico win.

"Every time the pundits count us out -- every time they declare the race over -- you, the voters, send a clear message that you have another idea," Clinton wrote in an email to supporters. "And you and I just keep winning races together."

Before boarding a plane last night that took her to South Dakota to campaign today, Clinton also floated the possibility of superdelegates switching their support based on recent primary results. "One thing about superdelegates is they can change their minds," Clinton said.

So, is this the end of the beginning, the beginning of the end or somewhere in between?

By Chris Cillizza  |  June 2, 2008; 9:14 AM ET
Categories:  FixCam Share This:  E-Mail | Technorati | Del.icio.us | Digg | Stumble Previous: Clinton Puts Up Popular Vote Ad
Next: Wag the Blog: The Biggest Upset Ever?

The comments to this entry are closed.