NATIONAL NEWS
May 16, 2008
Battling On and On and On
The nomination process has been a long road for the Democrats
Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama continue to battle it out in primary contests among voters. Will this contest ever end? Of course it will, and maybe soon. Democratic Party leaders note that Obama's lead over Clinton in delegates, the people who will represent voters at the Democratic National Convention in August, is growing by the day. Clinton is officially still in the race, but her chances of being the nominee shrink every time Obama gains a new supporter.
 |  CHIP SOMODEVILLA—GETTY IMAGES Clinton continued to campaign last week. |
On May 14, former candidate John Edwards threw his support behind Obama. Edwards had won 19 delegates in early contests, and many of them switched their support to Obama after Edwards made his announcement. According to CNN, by May 16, Obama had 1,904 delegates to Clinton's 1,717.
The Democratic Party's rules committee is scheduled to meet on May 31 to decide whether and how to split up the delegates from Florida and Michigan. Those two states held primary contests in violation of the party's rules. Originally, the states were supposed to lose their delegates as punishment for breaking the rules. Now the delegates may be allowed to represent voters after all, but party leaders must agree on how it will work. "Probably, what we will come up with will not make everybody or anybody completely happy, which will mean that we did a good job," said Alice Germond, Democratic National Committee secretary. The last scheduled primaries are on June 3. After that, maybe—just maybe—the party will have its eventual nominee.
 KIICHIRO SATO—AP McCain, the likely Republican nominee, criticized Obama. | |
John McCain won enough delegates in the early contests to drive out other Republican challengers months ago. McCain has been visiting leaders in foreign countries and holding town hall-style meetings, in which an audience of voters gets to ask him questions directly, across the U.S.
In recent days, McCain and President George W. Bush both criticized a policy that Obama has said he would support: holding talks with leaders of hostile nations and groups, including terror groups, instead of refusing to deal with them. The two Republicans spoke out against Obama's position.
Obama defended it, and criticized their policies and plans regarding talks with the enemy. The campaign has not officially turned into a contest between Obama and McCain, but both candidates seem to be gearing up to face off on Election Day, November 4.
