THE RECAP:The last 96 hours

By Samuel Rubenfeld
Senior News Editor

NEW YORK--Heading into the final weekend of the long-running Democratic presidential primary season, the campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) had at least something to be hopeful about: the restoration of the delegates from Florida and Michigan, an expected landslide in Puerto Rico and possibly, just possibly, a stumble by her opponent, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), to thrust her into victory.

Oh, what a torrid weekend and primary finale it has been.

First came the fights over delegates and votes from Michigan and Florida: both states' delegates were barred from the convention due to holding primaries too early. The Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee held its meeting in a Washington hotel on Saturday to settle the matter, resulting in a compromise deal where each states' delegates get a seat, but can only count for half a vote.

Michigan was especially controversial because Obama was not on the ballot there, but he was awarded all of the votes estimated to have gone to him based on exit polls, which gave him four more delegates than the Clinton campaign thought he deserved.

Clinton supporters were fuming, with loud chants of "Denver! Denver! Denver!" coming from the gallery. Harold Ickes, a chief Clinton adviser who himself serves on that committee, said Clinton "instructed me to reserve her rights to take this to the credentials committee," implying that the showdown over Michigan and Florida delegates would go all the way to the national convention in Denver in late August.

The decisions also changed the number of delegates required to claim a majority and the presumptive nomination to 2,118, and Obama was within 60 delegates of the required amount, based on multiple delegate estimates.

Clinton's only recourse was now claiming a popular vote majority, which the campaign began doing by counting the votes from Florida and Michigan, but not counting votes from caucus states such as Iowa and Maine that do not give official vote tallies. The Obama campaign countered, saying they held the popular vote lead.

She needed a huge turnout and a large win in the Puerto Rico primary the next day, Sunday. Clinton got the victory, which she received by a nearly two-to-one majority, but the turnout was lower than Clinton needed. And the superdelegates were not going her way.

Obama acted throughout like the general election nominee; he was quoted by Monday's New York Times calling a rally in South Dakota "a good way to end my campaign in the primary phase." Each day saw the announcement of more superdelegate endorsements, putting him closer to the nomination.

Monday was what was hinted as the beginning of the end for the Clinton campaign. Newsday reported that she was hosting a private meeting at her home in Chappaqua, New York, for high-level aides, where she would decide the future of her campaign. Politico.com added that aides were told she would host her last primary night event in Midtown Manhattan and that their roles on the campaign were ending.

Bill Clinton, who was a thorn in Hillary's side at moments during the campaign, may have hinted at the looming endgame: "I want to say also, that this may be the last day I'm ever involved in a campaign of this kind," he said at a town hall meeting on Monday in Milbank, South Dakota.

Tuesday is the final day of the primary season, and it is shaping up to be a major one for Obama. Montana and South Dakota held their primaries, with the polls closing at 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. EDT respectively. But as previously posted, the Associated Press reported at 1:30 p.m. EDT in an alert that Obama was "effectively" the presidential nominee, counting both public and private commitments to the campaign.

The superdelegates came in droves, with liberal blog TalkingPointsMemo.com reporting 19.5 of them endorsing Obama as of 5:36 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday alone.

CNN, as of 7 p.m., reported that Obama needs only 10 delegates to clinch the nomination. As the results come in, we will bring them to you.