http://www.newsmax.com/politics/obama_finale/2008/05/17/96916.html
Obama Seeks Focus on End of Primary Campaign
Saturday, May 17, 2008
EUGENE, Ore. -- Attempting to lay a symbolic claim to his party's
presidential nomination, Democrat Barack Obama will mark the latest
round of primary voting with a rally in Iowa, where his solid win in
January caucuses propelled him to his status as the front-runner.
Obama was campaigning Saturday for primaries Tuesday in Oregon and
Kentucky as his aides announced the rally on primary night in Iowa,
which they described as "a critical general election state that
Democrats must win in November."
Rival Hillary Rodham Clinton has a strong lead in polls in Kentucky,
but Obama has the advantage in Oregon.
Obama has built a solid lead in Democratic National Convention
delegates over Clinton, and is working overtime to cast an image of
inevitability to his campaign for the nomination. In recent days, he
has spent more time focused on his differences with certain Republican
nominee John McCain than sparring with Clinton.
Iowa has been a swing state in recent elections. Democrat Al Gore
narrowly carried the state in 2000, and President Bush collected the
state's seven electoral votes by just over 10,000 votes in 2004. Since
that time, however, Democrats have build a substantial edge in
registered voters, and turnout in the January precinct caucuses was at
record levels.
Obama will be joined by wife, Michelle, for the Iowa rally, a
homecoming of sorts for the couple. The rally is the latest effort by
Obama to ****ft attention away from the primary season to the November
election even though Clinton continues to maintain a full campaign
schedule in primary states.
The last Democratic primaries are June 3 in Montana and South Dakota.
Clinton began the nomination race far better known than Obama, and was
considered by many to be the likely nominee in the early days of the
campaign. Obama countered that perception with an intense grass-roots
campaign in Iowa that led to a surpisingly easy win. Though Clinton
rebounded with a win in the New Hamp****re primary, Obama has
maintained his status as the front-runner.
Obama won't be able to capture the delegates needed to collect the
party's nomination strictly through primaries _ he also needs to
increase his sup****t from superdelegates, the elected officials and
party leaders who are delegates because of their positions. Clinton
had led Obama in superdelegates through most of the year, but he
recently overtook her and now leads 295.5 to 274.5 _ including a
superdelegate in Maryland he collected Saturday.
Overall, Obama has 1,905 delegates to Clinton's 1,719, with 2,026
delegates are needed to secure the nomination.
Underscoring his ****ft to a general election strategy, Obama is
heading to Florida next week _ a key general election state where he
has not yet campaigned.
The Democratic National Committee stripped Florida of its delegates as
punishment for moving up its primary to January, earlier than allowed
by party rules.
Clinton, who did not campaign in the state either, won the Florida
primary. She and Obama have been at odds over seating the state's
delegation at the national convention in Denver in August.
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