UNITED STATES:BARACK OBAMA, setting his sights well beyond tomorrow's primary against Hillary Clinton, yesterday began preparations for a summer series of debates against the Republican John McCain.
While Mrs Clinton campaigned doggedly in West Virginia, which holds its primary tomorrow, the Obama camp consolidated its claim on the Democratic nomination and began revealing its strategy for the coming presidential elections. "We are coming to the end of the process," Mr Obama's strategist, David Axelrod, said yesterday on Fox television.
"I think there is an eagerness on the part of the party to get on with the general election campaign." On Saturday, Mr Obama reached an important milestone when he surpassed Mrs Clinton's once formidable advantage among superdelegates, the elected and senior Democratic officials who are free to support the candidate of their choosing. The steady stream of superdelegates declaring their support for Mr Obama since last Tuesday now gives him 276, against 274 for Mrs Clinton.
Mr Obama now leads Mrs Clinton on every metric of the race: pledged delegates, superdelegates, popular vote and states won. He is only 161 delegates short of reaching the 2,025 needed for the nomination.
With the nomination nearly wrapped up, Mr Axelrod said his camp was in discussions with Mr McCain on the Republican's proposal for a series of town hall debates. The proposal would potentially match Mr Obama and Mr McCain on several more occasions than the usual schedule of three televised debates for a presidential election.
It would also maintain the momentum of an election season which began far earlier than in any other year.
The unmoderated debates under discussion would start even before Mr Obama is formally named the Democratic nominee at the party's convention in late August.
- (Guardian service)