Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are expected to split their primaries Tuesday, Obama winning Oregon and Clinton taking Kentucky, a wash that will leave Obama on course to take the Democratic presidential nomination when the primaries end June 3.
A victory in Oregon is expected to hand Obama a clear majority of the pledged delegates elected by voters, but it will still leave him short of the 2,025 delegates he needs to claim the nomination.
President Bush defeated Democrat John Kerry there in 2004 by just over 10,000 votes.

BY BETH REINHARD AND LESLEY CLARK Seeking to trip up Barack Obama's march to the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton plans to overlap with his

As polls had predicted, Sen. Barack Obama won the 2008 Democrat Primary election for presidential nominee in North Carolina on Tuesday (May 6), beating Sen. Hillary Clinton in the state by a 55.9% to 41.7% margin. Clinton vowed to continue on with her bid for the Democratic nomination in six remaining primaries.
Running without serious opposition, Sen. John McCain won the Republican presidential primary in North Carolina and Indiana, with 74% of the vote in the Tarheel state and 77% of the Indiana vote. McCain already has more than the 1,191 delegates needed to be declared the Republican nominee.

By By Wes Allison, Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON - Some Democrats are pining for what they consider the Dream Ticket — Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, running together for the White House.
Assuming he wins the nomination, Obama has plenty of reasons to ask Clinton to join him, and neither candidate is knocking the idea.
ut this was an especially hard-fought primary that often pitted two key Democratic constituencies — African-Americans and women — against each other. Some party activists worry that the wounds Clinton and Obama inflicted will cost the Democrats the election. Experts say the best, if not the only, reason for Obama to choose Clinton would be to heal those divisions.

By CLYDE HABERMAN If the punditocracy is correct - and isn’t it always, which explains why Rudolph W. Giuliani is the likely Republican presidential nominee, John McCain has a one-way ticket to Palookaville, Fred Thompson is renowned as the Republicans’ Energizer bunny and Barack Obama is an interesting but can’t-do candidate — Tuesday could be D-Day for Hillary Rodham Clinton.
That’s D as in Delegates Take a Hike. The received wisdom — and when does it ever err? — is that the results of Tuesday’s primaries in Oregon and Kentucky will give Mr. Obama an unassailable majority of pledged delegates in the Democratic presidential race. That would make it difficult, perhaps impossible,

WASHINGTON (CNN) - He's not declaring victory in the Democratic primaries, but if you listen to Barack Obama, you get a clear sense he's more than ready for a fall fight with John McCain.
t proclaim victory in his long and bitter battle with New York Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.
ded to make that claim.

The HBO film Recount airs later this week and is a reminder of how Florida used to be the swing state in presidential elections. But in 2004, Ohio was the state that decided the election, as George Bush beat John Kerry by 5 full points here in the Sunshine State.
Florida comes back in the spotlight this week when Barack Obama makes his first appearance in the state this year, including a noontime rally in downtown Tampa on Wednesday. If Obama is the nominee, he will be facing an opponent who has virtually lived in Florida for the past year. John McCain’s scheduled appearance in South Florida tomorrow will mark the 45th day he’s campaigned in the Sunshine state.
e polls

By JASON MOON, Managing Editor More than 450 readers voted in the latest poll. The Times recently asked its readers if Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) should

By Ellen Wulfhorst MAYSVILLE, Ky., May 19 (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton had a warning on Monday for rival Barack Obama, who is on the verge of claiming the U.S. Democratic presidential nomination: Not so fast.
"This is nowhere near over," Clinton said at a rally in Maysville, Kentucky, pressing ahead with her long shot bid for the White House even as Obama focuses on November's general election match-up with Republican John McCain.
trending his way heavily in recent weeks, should back him since he won the most delegates in state voting.

Sen. Barack Obama - speaks to local residents in New Hampton, Iowa, in this Oct. 5, 2007 file photo. On Tuesday night, he plans to return to the state that gave him his first Democratic primary nominating victory.(Associated Press)
By Dan Balz
ctory in the caucuses in January turned the Democratic race upside down. There, at a rally in Des Moines, he is expected to declare the he has secured a majority of the pledged delegates currently eligible to attend the Democratic convention in Denver next August.

By Brian Knowlton WASHINGTON: Senator Barack Obama edged away Monday from declaring outright victory as soon as Tuesday in his race against Senator Hillary

One was in the Midwest, the other in the far West. But in competing speeches today, John McCain and Barack Obama continued an intensifying debate, ratcheting up the rhetoric in their core dispute over the posture the U.S. should assume in international negotiations.
McCain, venturing into Obama's hometown of Chicago to address a meeting of the National Restaurant Assn. (many of whose members are reliable Republicans, due to their opposition to minimum wage raises), said the Democrat "betrays the depth" of his "inexperience and reckless judgment" in his call for an American president to be willing to talk with opposing regimes, such as Iran, without preconditions.
e" to talk to its enemies.

John McCain went directly at Democrats this morning on the issue he acknowledges isn't his strong suit, but is the top concern for voters -- the economy.
"Whoever wins the nomination of the Democratic Party, that candidate and I have some serious debates ahead of us. Some of our sharpest disagreements concern the American economy and how best to help American workers. On tax policy, health-care reform, trade, government spending, and a long list of other issues, we offer very different choices to the American people," McCain said this morning, according to remarks prepared for a speech in Democratic front-runner Barack Obama's home turf of Chicago.
n. "In case you missed

By Ariel Alexovich Barack Obama and his family greeted a record-breaking crowd of 75000 in Portland, Ore., on Sunday, ahead of that state’s primary this

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrat Barack Obama fired off a broadside linking likely Republican presidential nominee John McCain to U.S. President George W. Bush's unpopular economic policies, a tactic he is likely to rely on to woo voters worried about economic uncertainty as he looks toward his general election strategy.
Obama was campaigning before Tuesday's primaries in Oregon and Kentucky, votes that are expected to put him less than 100 delegates away from reaching the total 2,026 needed to secure his party's nomination after an epic battle with Hillary Rodham Clinton.
f the major issues of the presidential campaign.

By RUSSELL BERMAN WASHINGTON - Republicans are seeking to exploit a divide among Democratic leaders over Senator Obama's pledge to meet rogue leaders personally and without preconditions if he becomes president.
Three prominent Democrats yesterday struggled to defend their party's likely nominee in his dispute over diplomacy with President Bush and Senator McCain, but each appeared either to misstate Mr. Obama's position or criticize the idea of meeting unconditionally with the likes of presidents Ahmadinejad or Chavez.
mitment, Mr. Biden yesterday suggested there had been a shift.