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Race Isn't Over, Clinton Says

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The Associated Press

Published: May 20, 2008

Updated: 05/20/2008 12:01 am

MAYSVILLE, Ky. - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that Barack Obama may be getting ahead of himself in acting like the party's nominee before the final primary contests are over.

Clinton and Obama are still set to face off in several more primaries, including in Kentucky and Oregon today, but Obama has been increasingly presenting himself as the nominee already facing Republican John McCain.

The two debated foreign policy again Monday, paying little attention to Clinton. Obama, meanwhile, has scheduled appearances later this week in Iowa and Florida as he looks ahead to the swing states in the general election.

As she struggles to stay relevant, Clinton's campaign announced she would stop in Florida on Wednesday, too.

"You can declare yourself anything, but if you don't have the votes, it doesn't matter," Clinton said Monday in a satellite interview with an Oregon television station before a campaign appearance in Kentucky.

At an evening rally in Lexington, Bill Clinton portrayed her as the underdog who keeps coming back from the brink of defeat.

"They've declared her dead more times than a cat's got lives," the former president told a raucous crowd of about 2,500 supporters.

Clinton trails Obama in the delegate count by such a margin that it is mathematically unlikely for her to overtake him in the remaining primaries, which end June 3 with Montana and South Dakota.

But both candidates have been angling to win over the party leaders and elected officials known as superdelegates, whose support will likely determine the nominee. Obama recently surpassed Clinton in committed superdelegates.

Clinton also has tried to make the case that if the results of disputed primaries in Michigan and Florida are included, she would lead Obama narrowly in the overall popular vote. Clinton won both contests, but the results were voided because they took place in January in violation of Democratic Party rules. Obama and three other Democrats, but not Clinton, removed their names from Michigan's ballot after all the Democratic candidates agreed not to campaign there or in Florida.

Since then, Clinton has argued that both states' delegations should be seated at the Democratic convention in August. The DNC rules committee has a meeting May 31 to consider options.

"Once we include Florida and Michigan, neither Senator Obama nor I will have enough delegates to get the nomination, so there is no way that this is going to end anytime soon, because we're going to keep fighting for the nomination," Clinton told voters in Prestonburg, Ky.

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