Today on the presidential campaign trail
IN THE HEADLINES
Obama nears victory amid signs Clinton may be preparing to acknowledge defeat ... McCain uses speech to pro-Israel group to criticize Obama on Iran ... Obama says he will meet with Clinton after dust settles on race ... Clinton spends final day on the trail in South Dakota before heading home to consider options
------
Obama nears victory; Clinton nearing the end?
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Barack Obama crept close to victory in the marathon Democratic presidential race Monday on the eve of the final primaries amid signs that Hillary Rodham Clinton was preparing to acknowledge defeat once he gained the final delegates needed.
Said a confident-sounding Obama: "I told her that once the dust settled I'm looking forward to meeting with her at a time and place of her choosing." He was disclosing the contents of a conversation the two rivals had on Sunday night but did not describe her response.
The former first lady has given no hint of quitting the race, and she has said repeatedly she may continue her candidacy even beyond the end of the primaries.
Obama, bidding to become the first black major party nominee in history, was 42.5 delegates shy of the 2,118 needed to clinch the nomination at the party's convention in Denver. He gained 4.5 during the day Monday, and one member of the House leadership, Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, readied an endorsement for Tuesday.
Obama's aides prodded uncommitted lawmakers and other "superdelegates" to climb on board quickly -- as Clinton struggled to hold back the tide.
------
McCain criticizes Obama on Iran
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican John McCain raised the specter of a nuclear Iran in a speech to a pro-Israel group, once again chastising Democrat Barack Obama for his willingness to meet with leaders of Iran and other U.S. foes.
McCain has criticized Obama for saying in a debate last year that he would meet leaders of Iran and other U.S. foes without preconditions. The Arizona senator argues Obama is naive and inexperienced to think that such a meeting would yield progress.
"It's hard to see what such a summit with President (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad would actually gain, except an earful of anti-Semitic rants, and a worldwide audience for a man who denies one Holocaust and talks before frenzied crowds about starting another," McCain told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
He criticized Obama for seeming to suggest that Iran is trying to develop a nuclear program because the U.S. refuses to engage in presidential-level talks. McCain said the Clinton administration in particular tried to engage Iran for two years, even lifting some sanctions, to no avail.
In his speech, McCain also called for measures aimed at increasing pressure on Iran, such as severely limiting Iranian imports of gasoline, targeted sanctions such as denying visas and freezing assets and a worldwide campaign to divest from companies doing business with Iran.
------
Obama says he will meet Clinton after race ends
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) -- Barack Obama said Monday he has asked Democratic presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton for a meeting on her terms "once the dust settles" from their race.
"The sooner we can bring the party together, the sooner we can focus on John McCain and taking back the White House," Obama told reporters. Obama said he spoke with Clinton on Sunday after calling to congratulate her on her victory in the Puerto Rico primary.
On the eve of the final two primaries, Obama was already turning his attention to McCain, highlighting the ailing economy as the Democratic front-runner campaigned in Michigan. The state is a general election battleground where McCain months ago caused a stir by saying manufacturing jobs were gone and were not coming back.
Obama is on track to clinch the Democratic nomination as soon as Tuesday's primaries in South Dakota and Montana.
"It is my sense that between Tuesday and Wednesday we have a good chance of getting that number" of delegates, he said.
Obama said he apologized again for racially charged remarks made by Rev. Michael Pfleger, who mocked Clinton last month during a sermon at Obama's church. Obama has since resigned his 20-year membership in the Trinity United Church of Christ.
------
Clinton campaigns in SD, primaries draw to a close
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- On what shaped up as her final day campaigning, Hillary Rodham Clinton made a last-minute appeal to South Dakota voters amid signs that her marathon race against Barack Obama would end soon.
Her husband signaled as much.
"I want to say also that this may be the last day I'm ever involved in a campaign of this kind," former two-term President Clinton told voters in Milbank, S.D.
The New York senator and former first lady planned an evening rally with her husband and daughter Chelsea. South Dakota and Montana hold the final two Democratic primaries, with 31 delegates at stake. Hillary Clinton told patrons at a Rapid City restaurant earlier in the day, "I'm just very grateful we kept this campaign going until South Dakota would have the last word."
Clinton's advisers privately predicted she would lose both contests, and she planned to hold her primary night rally Tuesday in New York City, a rare departure from the campaign trail. She also planned to meet with advisers at her home in Chappaqua, N.Y. She had no other public events.
------
THE DELEGATE BREAKDOWN
Barack Obama: 2,075.5 -- 42.5 short of the nomination
Hillary Rodham Clinton: 1,917.5
------
THE DEMOCRATS
Hillary Rodham Clinton campaigns in South Dakota. Barack Obama talked with voters in Troy, Mich.
------
THE REPUBLICANS
John McCain spoke at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's conference in Washington before stopping in Nashville, Tenn.
------
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"I do want the superdelegates to make up their minds. And after tomorrow, there's no reason not to. Everything is out there." -- Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, in an interview with MSNBC.
------
STAT OF THE DAY:
South Dakota has voted Democratic for president just four times -- 1896, 1932, 1936 and 1964 -- since it joined the union in 1889.
------
Compiled by Ann Sanner. 