Obama campaign expects to claim nomination this week; Clinton wins Puerto Rico primary

Obama appeared to be just days away from becoming the first black presidential nominee of a major U.S. political party, despite a landslide primary win by Clinton a day earlier in Puerto Rico. The victory, however, had no impact on Obama's front-runner status and did even less to revive her failing campaign.

Clinton has ignored mounting pressure from some Democratic leaders to cede the nomination, vowing to continue the fight to win over all-important superdelegates _ officials and lawmakers who may vote as they chose _ even as worries mount that the bitter primary battle will undercut the Democrats' White House chances against Republican John McCain. But in a rare departure from her campaign practice, Clinton indicated that she would deliver her post-primary speech on Tuesday night from her home base in New York.

Heading into Montana and South Dakota's primaries Tuesday _ the last of the campaign season _ Obama is 45 delegates short of the 2,118 needed to win the nomination. Aides predicted the first-term senator could clinch the nomination as early as this week, locking in superdelegate support to make up whatever shortfall he faces after those final two contests.

He told a rally Monday in Michigan that he understands that people wonder whether Clinton's passionate supporters will back him in the November general election. Saying she has run an outstanding race, Obama said to applause that he and Clinton will be "working together in November." He did not elaborate.

Obama wants to formally kick off his general election campaign against McCain in a victory speech Tuesday night as the final primary polls close.

"Senator Obama is trying to line up people that are going to come out for him tomorrow during the day so that he'll have enough that puts him over the top that he can declare victory tomorrow," said Pennsylvania Rep. Jason Altmire, one of about 200 superdelegates under pressure to take a side in the contest.

Clinton entered the week with an insurgent strategy not only to win over undecided superdelegates but to peel away Obama's support from those who already have committed to back him for the nomination.

"One thing about superdelegates is that they can change their minds," she told reporters aboard her campaign plane Sunday night.

Even so, there was a sense of denouement in the campaign. She planned to rally with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and their daughter Chelsea in South Dakota on Monday night _ a reunion usually reserved for election nights.

Clinton campaigned in South Dakota, telling the patrons at Tally's Restaurant in Rapid City: "I'm just very grateful we kept this campaign going until South Dakota would have the last word. What South Dakota decides tomorrow will have a big influence in what people think going forward.

Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, gave a clearer signal that the primary race is over.

"I want to say also that this may be the last day I'm ever involved in a campaign of this kind," Bill Clinton told voters in Milbank, South Dakota, a small town in northeast South Dakota.

Clinton won a lopsided but largely symbolic victory Sunday in Puerto Rico _ a U.S. territory in the Caribbean that votes in the primaries but does not participate in the presidential general election. She won 38 delegates and Obama gained 17.

With 31 delegates at stake Tuesday, Obama could close the gap further and cue undecided superdelegates to come to his side. He picked up two more superdelgates on Monday.

Obama is favored in both South Dakota and Montana. He has 2,073 delegates, to Clinton's 1,915.5.

The Illinois senator has made up most of the ground he lost Saturday when the national party's rules committee agreed to reinstate delegates from Michigan and Florida. The party had initially refused to seat the delegates as punishment for scheduling their contests in violation of party rules.

But Clinton argues she now leads in the popular vote _ a debatable point given that she relies on Michigan and Florida outcomes. None of the candidates campaigned in either state and Obama received no votes in Michigan because he removed his name from the ballot. Clinton also continues to present herself as better able to confront McCain.

She and her campaign's national chairman, Terry McAuliffe, both made it clear Sunday night that Obama's supporters were now fair to pluck with those arguments.

Clinton also said she was still contemplating whether to challenge the decision by the Democratic Party's rules committee to split the Michigan delegates 69-59 in her favor. Each delegate would have a half vote. The agreement granted Obama 55 uncommitted Michigan delegates and four who would have been assigned to Clinton based on the state's results.

Her decision, if prolonged, is not likely to sit well with party leaders and some of her own supporters.

Tom Vilsack, the former Iowa governor and a national co-chairman of Clinton's campaign, said Sunday that Obama is likely to win and that after Tuesday's races, Clinton "needs to acknowledge that he's going to be the nominee and quickly get behind him."

Meanwhile, McCain targeted Obama in a speech to a pro-Israel lobby group in Washington. The Republican raised the specter of a nuclear Iran and once again chastised Obama for his willingness to meet with leaders of Iran and other U.S. foes.

McCain criticized Obama for seeming to suggest that Iran is trying to develop a nuclear program because the U.S. refuses to engage in presidential-level talks. McCain said Bill Clinton's administration in particular tried to engage Iran for two years, to no avail.

"Even so, we hear talk of a meeting with the Iranian leadership offered up as if it were some sudden inspiration, a bold new idea that somehow nobody has ever thought of before," McCain told McCain told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, as dozens in the audience laughed.

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