Obama pushes to claim victory Tuesday

By Adam Nagourney

updated 12:19 a.m. ET June 3, 2008

This article was reported by Adam Nagourney, Carl Hulse and Jeff Zeleny and written by Mr. Nagourney.

BATON ROUGE, La. - Senator Barack Obama’s campaign began a concerted effort on Monday to rally undecided superdelegates around him so he can claim the Democratic presidential nomination after the primaries end on Tuesday night.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton invited fund-raisers and other supporters to an election-night rally in New York City where, aides said, she was prepared to deliver what they described as a farewell speech that summed up the case for her candidacy. They said Mrs. Clinton was not likely to withdraw from the race on Tuesday night, probably waiting until later in the week, once Mr. Obama’s victory appeared clear.

Sensing an opportunity to shut down the nominating contest, Obama campaign advisers said that they were orchestrating an endorsement of Mr. Obama by at least eight Senate and House members who had pledged to remain uncommitted until the primaries ended, and that the endorsements would come the moment the South Dakota polls closed on Tuesday night.

The group will be led by Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, who on Monday met with three other uncommitted Democratic senators — Ken Salazar of Colorado, Thomas R. Carper of Delaware and Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland — at the offices of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in what Mr. Salazar called a unity session.

‘It’s time’
Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the No. 3 Democrat in the House and the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, set his formal endorsement of Mr. Obama for Tuesday, and he was urging others to do the same. Other lawmakers and party insiders were also sending word that they would be falling in line behind Mr. Obama beginning as early as Tuesday morning.

“It’s time,” said Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, one of the senators who have not made a public choice in the race, signaling that he too would announce his endorsement within days.

While Mr. Obama was moving into position to claim the delegates needed for the nomination, two top Democratic officials said those sympathetic to Mrs. Clinton were making calls of their own to encourage lawmakers to hold off at least until Wednesday to make any announcements in deference to Mrs. Clinton.

The activity on the eve of the final contests in Montana and South Dakota left little doubt on both sides that the long competition was coming to an end. Mr. Obama told reporters on Monday what he had told Mrs. Clinton when he called her on Sunday to congratulate her on winning the Puerto Rico primary: “Once the dust settled, I was looking forward to meeting with her at a time and place of her choosing.”

No campaignining on Clinton’s schedule
Mrs. Clinton has no public traveling schedule through the weekend, other than to Washington, reflecting what is, for all practical purposes, a campaign in suspension. Her associates said that no one in her campaign saw any way she could win the nomination, and that the only question now was when Mr. Obama could claim victory. The associates requested anonymity in deference to Mrs. Clinton’s request for privacy.

Mrs. Clinton’s decision to return to her home state to deliver her speech was made at the last minute, and thus she picked an unusual site for a major political event: the Baruch College athletics and recreation center on the East Side of Manhattan.

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The most likely situation, some of Mrs. Clinton’s aides said, was that she would suspend her campaign later in the week and would probably — though not definitely — endorse Mr. Obama.

On the Obama side, the rollout of the Congressional endorsements as the polls close on Tuesday night is intended to show that the party is coalescing behind him.

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