"The Onus Is On The Superdelegates"

Hillary Wins INDIANA - Victory Speech " Full Speed Ahead "

Barack Obama moved closer to clinching the Democratic presidential nomination by decisively defeating Hillary Clinton in North Carolina and losing to her by a narrow margin in Indiana.

Voters turned out in record numbers, handing Obama a 15 percentage point victory in North Carolina, the biggest and most delegate-rich in the final round of primaries ending June 3. Clinton won by 2 percentage points in Indiana.

``Once Obama won big tonight in North Carolina, he stopped her momentum train and picked up some serious steam of his own,'' Jenny Backus, an unaligned Democratic strategist, said after the vote. He ``rallied and turned the corner.''

Clinton, vowing to continue the fight for the nomination, isn't likely to make a dent in Obama's delegate lead in the five remaining states, plus Puerto Rico, still to hold contests with a total of 217 pledged delegates at stake. In addition, there are about 260 superdelegates, party officials and officeholders, who haven't declared their support.

``I'm staying in this race until there's a nominee,'' Clinton told supporters today in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

While Clinton could block Obama from sealing the nomination with pledged delegates by staying in the race, a rush of superdelegate endorsements could end the contest. He already has momentum: Since the March 4 primaries in Texas and Ohio, which Clinton won, Obama has gained the support of 51 superdelegates to 23 for Clinton.

``I think we will see, with these outstanding results, a very logical increase in the number of superdelegates who support Barack,'' Obama campaign co-chairman Eric Holder said ``It is finally time to unite this party and get ready for the general election.''

Clinton, 60, a New York senator, is trying to sway superdelegates with the argument that she is the better candidate to take on presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.

Clinton wasn't showing any sign of giving up. ``Thanks to you, it's full speed onto the White House,'' she told supporters in Indianapolis, while the votes were still being tallied in Indiana. ``Tonight, Hoosiers have said that you do want a president who stands strong for you.''

Clinton also disclosed that she had loaned her campaign an additional $6.4 million in recent weeks, evidence that her once front-runner campaign was in deep trouble.

She told reporters the loans were a sign of her commitment to her quest for the White House. She earlier loaned herself $5 million as she struggled to keep up with a better-financed Obama campaign.

Clinton told reporters it would take 2,209 or 2,210 delegates to win the nomination, not the 2,025 in use by the Democratic National Committee. The higher total would come into play if the delegations were seated from Michigan and Florida, two states that held primaries outside the time frame that party rules required.

The former first lady campaigned for months to have new votes in both states, although lately has said she merely wants the delegations seated.

Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, said on Tuesday night it was possible a compromise could be worked out to seat the Michigan delegates. He did not mention Florida.

Asked at her news conference whether she intended to remain in the race through the convention roll call, Clinton said, "I'm staying in this race until there's a nominee and obviously I am going to work as hard as I can to become that nominee."

Clinton backers appeared on early morning television programs to stress that she was still in the race and to urge party leaders and elected officials known as superdelegates not to flee to Obama.

"This candidacy and this campaign continues on," Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson said on CNN.

      After being badly beaten in the North Carolina primary and narrowly winning the Indiana primary, the cacophony of calls for Senator Hilary Clinton to quit grows louder. Despite being very strapped for campaign funds Hilary Clinton has vowed to press on until there is a Democrat nominee. Such is the nature of a fighter. The onus to end the race for the Democrat candidate in '08 is not on Hilary Clinton. In my opinion, the onus to end this long and hotly contested race is on the remaining uncommitted Democrat superdelegates and the head of the DNC, Howard Dean. If Hilary Clinton's staying in this race is hurting the Democrat party, then Dean and the superdelegates should end it now. Apparently these uncommitted superdelegates still have serious reservations about the candidacy of Senator Barack Obama, despite his pledged delegate and popular vote lead. I and millions of other Americans say "Fight On, Hilary, Fight On!"

tags: hilary clinton  dnc  howard dean  superdelegates  2008  politics  takebackamerica  us  barack obama  

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