Clinton wins Kentucky while Obama secures majority

Obama declares pledged delegate majority in his speech to supporters in Des Moines, Iowa.
(Video provided by MSNBC.com)

By Kimberly Chin
Assistant News Editor

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) decisively won the Kentucky primary, with a lopsided lead over her rival Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), although it was not enough to block Obama from picking up a majority of the Democratic Party’s pledged delegates, which could be telling of the eventual nominee.

The Associated Press reported that Obama only needs 17 delegates coming out of Tuesday’s primaries, which he easily carried, despite Clinton’s victory of 65 percent compared to Obama’s 29 percent in the southern state.

"To say that we have the majority of the core of the delegates that are going to be making the decisions at the convention and selecting our nominee, that's a critical milestone," former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle said, who is also an Obama campaign co-chairman.

Although it is highly unlikely that Clinton will be able to capture the delegates, she is betting on winning the popular vote, an aspect of the nomination process that her campaign has claimed to lead.

“This is one of the closest races for a party’s nomination in modern history,” Clinton told her supporters, after many networks called her victory early in the night. “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’s victory in the Blue Grass state signifies a continual battle, which for the past few months has led media critics and even members of her own party to ask her to step down for the sake of a unified party come the general election in November. Ignoring the calls, Clinton has been able to pick up three more states in the last week, which includes Kentucky.

She holds most of the crucial "big" Democratic-leaning states needed to win in the Fall.

Obama addressed his supporters in Iowa, one of the crucial early states he had won, as the results came in from Kentucky.

“Senator Clinton has run a magnificent race, and she is still working hard, as am I, for all of these last primary contests,” Obama said, acknowledging that he has not “presumptuously” claimed the nomination yet, as Clinton staffers contend, and is expecting to continue the struggle with Clinton until the end of the race in June.

"Right now, more people have voted for me than have voted for my opponent," Clinton said. "More people have voted for me than for anybody ever running for president before. So we have a very close contest."

Primary polls are still open in Oregon, which has a unique mail-in primary. The results will come in later in this evening.