US Democrats fight on to the end

By Jonathan Beale BBC News, Washington

At last - the race for Democratic Party's presidential nomination is (nearly) over!

Mr Obama has been urging super-delegates to make up their minds

No more reporting the endless see-saw of results.

No more sitting on the fence as to who will be the Democratic nominee.

It has of course been looking like the end for some time.

The results from the final primary races in South Dakota and Montana are not going to be "game-changers" with all of their 31 delegates.

Neither Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will be in either state to await the result.

It is likely that the results will confirm what we already know - that Barack Obama can win in largely white rural states, once again relying on the higher proportion of college educated voters.

Mental somersaults

Yet, even though she is staring at defeat, and some of her staunchest supporters - like Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell - now publicly express doubt that she can do it, Hillary Clinton is still claiming victory - of a kind.

It takes a few mental somersaults and mathematical massages - but her disputed logic states that she has won the popular vote and is therefore still the best candidate.

It is certainly true that every time someone has tried to slam another nail in her coffin, she has come bouncing back up like a mythical mummy.

This Sunday she took another bow after a big win in Puerto Rico.

[Mr Obama]'s not going to wait by the phone [for Mrs Clinton to concede] like a high-school girl waiting for a date. Obama advisor

Though she has won fights right up to the end, she has not been able to win the crucial battles.

Look at the outcome of the Democratic National Committee judgement over the weekend on the delegates for Florida and Michigan.

It just did not go her way.

The big question is whether Hillary Clinton will throw in the towel on Tuesday night.

There has been plenty of anecdotal reporting that she is preparing to quit.

Her staff are being told to submit their expenses by the end of the week.

And her husband Bill - campaigning in South Dakota - said that a Monday campaign rally may have been his last appearance in a presidential race!

Unifying the party

Mrs Clinton herself will be going back to New York - her home state - to await the results on Tuesday night.

But is that the venue where she will finally concede defeat?

Even now she says she hopes the party's officials - the super-delegates - will change their mind and back her instead.

Few others believe that these super-delegate defections will ever materialise, however.

Barack Obama may still be short of reaching the delegate threshold of 2,118 by Tuesday night - even if he wins big in both South Dakota and Montana.

That is why his campaign is urging the undeclared superdelegates to make up their minds quickly.

If they come out before Tuesday it will all be over.

He will still have to watch how Hillary Clinton reacts in the interests of unifying the party.

But as one Obama adviser put it: "He's not going to wait by the phone like a high-school girl waiting for a date."

Tuesday night will be more evidence that the Obama campaign is now focusing on the upcoming battle with John McCain.

Senator Obama will be holding his "victory" rally in St Paul, Minnesota - the site was chosen because it is the same place where Senator McCain will formally receive the Republican Party's presidential nomination in early September.

So it is over to Hillary Clinton to decide how this contest will conclude.

Will it be a final hurrah in front of her loyal supporters - or will she linger a little longer to define the terms of her departure?

The expectation is that she will be out by the end of the week.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version