Barack Obama may have lost Kentucky,
but he's laid claim to the majority of 'pledged' delegates.
Hillary Clinton's big win may not get her any
closer to winning the presidential nomination.
Hillary Clinton sailed to a landslide victory Tuesday night in the Kentucky primary, but it was Barack Obama who edged ever closer to the finish line for the Democratic nomination with a win in Oregon.
With all the votes counted in the Bluegrass State, Clinton had crushed Obama, 65% to 30%, one of the biggest blowouts of this year's primary marathon.
Meanwhile, with 61% of the vote tallied, Obama was outpacing Clinton in Oregon, 58% to 42%.
But even with his second-place showing in Kentucky, Obama secured a majority of delegates awarded nationally by voters - a threshold touted by his campaign as a "major milestone."
He was expected to end the night just 60 or so delegates short of the 2,026 needed to win the nomination, a number neither candidate can hit without help from superdelegates, the party leaders who can vote for anyone.
Obama's insurmountable lead among pledged delegates led him to all but lay claim to his party's nomination in Des Moines Tuesday night, the scene of his first victory in snowy January.
"We have returned to Iowa with a majority of delegates elected by the American people, and you have put us within reach of the Democratic nomination," he said.
"No matter how this primary ends," he added, "Sen. Clinton has . . . broken barriers and changed the America in which my daughters and your daughters will come of age."
But Clinton wouldn't quit. She argued she has received more popular votes than Obama, and that the real number of delegates needed to win is 2,210 - if Michigan and Florida are counted. She vowed to fight on until there is a nominee, "whoever she may be."
"This is one of the closest races for a party's nomination in modern history," Clinton told supporters in Kentucky. "We're winning the popular vote and I'm more determined than ever to see that every vote is cast and every ballot counted."
Both Michigan and Florida lost their delegates after violating Democratic Party rules and holding their primaries before Feb. 5.
But the party's rules committee is due to meet next week to decide how, if at all, to count the two states' results - a decision that could dramatically alter the math for Clinton.
In a sign of the dispute's high stakes, both candidates will head today to Florida - with very different agendas.
Clinton plans to drive home her message that Sunshine State voters deserve to have their ballots counted. At the same time, Obama will try to soothe hurt feelings and look ahead to November, when Florida will undoubtedly be a key swing state against Republicans.
For now, however, it's likely that Obama's delegate lead will give him the stronger case with superdelegates, experts said.
Three contests with a total of 86 delegates remain: Puerto Rico on June 1 and South Dakota and Montana on June 3.
"The prospects for a Clinton win are bleak and becoming bleaker as the days go on, but it is still not out of the realm of possibility," said Costas Panagopoulos, a Fordham University professor of political science.
At the same time, Panagopoulos said Obama risks offending Clinton supporters.
"He does not want to give the impression that he's being pompous," he said.
If Tuesday's exit polls were any sign, he's got lots of healing to do.
Only a third of Clinton backers in Kentucky said they would vote for Obama against presumptive GOP nominee John McCain.
Obama voters seemed more forgiving - seven in 10 said they would vote for Clinton.
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