HILLARY Clinton yesterday took her battered primary campaign to Florida, seeking not votes but a change in the rules.
She hopes the Democratic Party will lift a ban on the primaries held earlier this year in Florida and Michigan, a move that represents her last realistic chance of staying in the nomination race.
"I'm going to keep standing up for the voters of F
lorida and Michigan," she told cheering supporters.
"I'm going to continue making our case until we have a nominee, whoever she may be."
Her task became more urgent this week when rival Barack Obama reached a significant milestone: After victory in Oregon and defeat in Kentucky, Mr Obama has won more than half of all the available elected delegates in the primary race, prompting him to tell supporters that victory is "within reach".
Absolute victory can be assured under existing rules if Mr Obama gets a further 64 delegates from the three remaining primaries and from party appointed superdelegates.
Mrs Clinton, meanwhile, is putting her focus on changing those rules.
Florida and Michigan had the results of their primaries cancelled by the Democratic Party, after they moved forward their election dates without permission.
Mrs Clinton won both elections and has demanded that the results be counted. But Mr Obama, whose name was not on the ballot of Michigan, argues that these elections are invalid because neither candidate was allowed to campaign, and many voters stayed at home.
For both sides, the key date is 31 May, when the Democratic National Committee's Rules Committee meets to decide the issue.
With this in mind Mrs Clinton is touring Florida, one of the most populous states and a must-win for Democrats in the presidential battle still to come.
"We do believe that Michigan and Florida will be seated… as the votes were cast," said Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson. "We will obviously get these delegates."
This new front in the primary war has put many of the party top brass on edge.
The rules committee does not want to upset Mrs Clinton, least of all because she has rich backers who fill the party war chest.
Equally, the committee knows it will have problems explaining to Mr Obama why, having forbidden him from campaigning in Florida and Michigan, it may now rule that those results can count.
"They are saying, change the rules at the last minute so we can win," said Carl Bernstein, Mrs Clinton's biographer. Reinforcing Mrs Clinton's argument is her ability, despite being well behind Mr Obama, to carve out victories, winning Kentucky on Tuesday with 65 per cent of the vote.
But some party officials think the rules committee will find it impossible to reverse the decision. "There's virtually no way that the rules committee is going to do anything that is of major significant help to Hillary," said Phil Noble, a pollster.
Mr Obama himself is trying to switch the emphasis from the primary battle to the presidential election to come.
IN NUMBERS 64
The number of delegates Obama needs for the nomination.
1,962
Obama delegates overall.
2,026
needed for the nomination in total.
Clinton has 1,779.
58
per cent share of the votes won by Obama in Oregon to 42 per cent for Clinton.
65
per cent to 30 per cent – number of votes won in Kentucky by Clinton over Obama.
Nine in 10
ballots in Kentucky cast by white voters.
One in five
whites in Kentucky said race played a role in choosing their candidate.
One in 10
voters in Oregon who said the racial origin of the candidates was important in making their decision.
$29.5 million
The amount Clinton's campaign is now in debt.
$46.6 million
The amount Obama had in the bank at the end of April.
The full article contains 639 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
