Obama Just Steps Away From Party Nomination

Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton exchanged punches at Tuesday’s Democratic primaries held in Oregon and Kentucky.

Obama carried in Oregon with 58% of the vote, while Hillary swept Kentucky with 65%.

Obama has now won more than the majority of the party’s primaries, which began on January 3 over 56 contests.

Prior to the latest primaries, Obama was just 17 delegates away from the half of 3,253 delegates.

Including the party’s superdelegates, 1,940 members in total now support Obama. Therefore, he is close to the 2,026 delegates, a figure commonly known as the “magic number.”

Despite the poor outlook, Hillary has promised to fight to the end. But once the results are clear and it is obvious that she has lost, she said she would help Obama.

sechepa@donga.com