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DES MOINES, Iowa - Barack Obama claimed he had piled up a 'milestone' majority of elected delegates in the Democratic White House race, despite Hillary Clinton's thumping win in the first of Tuesday's two primary votes.
"The polls are closed in Kentucky and votes are being counted in Oregon, and it's clear that tonight we have reached a major milestone on this journey," Obama said in a message sent to his supporters.
"We have won an absolute majority of all the delegates chosen by the people in this Democratic primary process."
Earlier, Clinton scored a thumping win in the Kentucky primary, as her coalition of white, working class voters held firm, and raised fresh questions about Obama's appeal to the crucial swing bloc in a general election.
Obama, battling to become the first black presidential nominee in US history, was however still short of the 2,026 delegates to August's Democratic Party nominating convention needed to officially claim the nomination under party rules.
But with 99 percent of votes counted in Kentucky, she led her rival 65 percent to 30 percent in the socially conservative state -- a lead of more than 240,000 votes.
Clinton, 60, vowed anew not to give up until after the closely fought Democratic primary season ends on June 3.
"It's not just Kentucky bluegrass that's music to my ears. It's the sound of your overwhelming vote of confidence even in the face of some pretty tough odds," she told raucous supporters here.
"This is one of the closest races for a party's nomination in recent history. We're winning the popular vote and I'm more determined than ever to see that every vote is cast and every ballot is counted," Clinton said.
"I'm going to keep making our case until we have a nominee, whoever she may be," Clinton said with a wide smile at her victory party here.
Voting in the liberal western state of Oregon, where Obama is favored, was due to end at 0300 GMT.
Obama on Tuesday returned to Iowa, the scene of his shock victory in the first Democratic nominating contest back in January.
But fearful of provoking the combative Clinton, the Obama campaign denied it was adopting a triumphalist tone about securing a majority of pledged delegates.
In a new sign of his growing political might, Obama's campaign said he had raised 31 million dollars in April.
Clinton's communications chief Howard Wolfson said her campaign raised 22 million dollars in the same month.
Her effort has faced mounting debts however, and she has been forced to lend her campaign about 11 million dollars of her personal fortune.
Clinton's campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, said the Kentucky outcome was enough to give top party officials or superdelegates reason to doubt Obama's capacity to win against McCain in November.
"Everybody keeps saying it's over, but Hillary Clinton keeps winning in purple states," he said, referring to swing states that are a mix of Republican red and Democratic blue.
According to RealClearPolitics.com, Obama had 1,610 pledged delegates heading into Tuesday's primaries, just 17 short of a majority on the final stretch of the Democratic primary campaign.
With party elders known as "superdelegates" thrown in, the website said he had 1,915 delegates in total, and needed 111 more to reach the newly revised winning line of 2,026, counting a recently elected Democrat from Mississippi.
A total of 103 delegates was up for grabs in Oregon and Kentucky.
McAuliffe turned to no lesser an authority than Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's long-time counselor and a hate figure for most Democrats, to burnish his arguments about electability.
An electoral map prepared by Rove's consulting firm and leaked to the press showed Clinton beating McCain easily in November. The race with Obama as the Democratic nominee was suggested to be much tighter.
But that contention, and Clinton's claim that she now leads in the popular vote including disputed primaries in Florida and Michigan, has not cut much ice with superdelegates as more party elders drift towards Obama.
Both Obama and Clinton were heading to Florida Wednesday. The Sunshine State's primary results, like Michigan's, were voided by Democratic bosses over a scheduling row.
The last contests in the race are in Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota.
- AFP /ls
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