Obama inching ever closer to nomination

The morning talk shows were barren of the usual candidates or aides trumpeting the previous night's triumph or explaining away a loss, one sign that the rhetoric of the competition is ratcheting down on both sides despite the trio of primaries to come.

Indeed, Obama is now abundant in his praise of a Democratic rival who engaged him fiercely and often bitterly over six months. In his Iowa rally Tuesday night, the man close to becoming the first black Democratic presidential candidate paid tribute to Clinton's historic effort to become the first female president, saying she "has shattered myths and broken barriers and changed the America in which my daughters and your daughters will come of age, and for that we are grateful to her."

Democratic rule-makers meet at the end of this month to decide whether to count delegates from Florida and Michigan; the states were striped of their delegates as punishment for holding early primaries. Clinton won both states but Obama had his name kept off the Michigan ballot and neither candidate campaigned in those states.

With 94 percent of the vote counted in Oregon, Obama was winning by a 59-41 percent margin. Clinton scored a 35-point win in Kentucky after trouncing him by 41 points in West Virginia last week.

Obama won Oregon with the support of men and young people, but also found plenty of votes from blue-collar workers who have the staple of Clinton victories in other states, according to surveys of voters. As a group, only those making less than $30,000 a year and those over 65 favored Clinton. Women were evenly divided between Obama and Clinton, but men voted for Obama 2-to-1.

Altogether, Obama scored a solid win in a heavily white state, a rare achievement in recent races in which blue-collar whites have powered his rival.

Video Clinton says count Florida votes May 21: Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally in Boca Raton, Fla. MSNBC

In Kentucky, Clinton won two-thirds of women and nearly as many men — altogether, seven in 10 whites, who made up nearly 90 percent of the electorate, exit polls indicated. Clinton prevailed among all age, income and education categories, with particularly large margins among lower-earning and less educated voters.

As he closes in on the Democratic prize, Obama has been concentrating his campaign more and more on McCain rather than on Clinton.

But Clinton insists she still sees a path to the prize by winning over superdelegates, whose support will be needed for either candidate to be clinch the nomination.

Clinton won at least 56 delegates from Kentucky and Oregon and Obama won at least 43, according to an analysis of election returns by The Associated Press. All 51 delegates from Kentucky were awarded but there were still four of 52 to be allocated in Oregon.

Obama has an overall total of 1,962 delegates, including endorsements from superdelegates. Clinton has 1,779, including superdelegates, according to the latest tally by the AP.

Picking the president: The candidates Click to visit that candidate's MSNBC page or click the XML symbol for an RSS feed. John McCain                Barack Obama

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