Obama, Clinton near end of historic Democratic race

Barack Obama edged closer to capturing the Democratic presidential nomination yesterday after a gruelling and historic battle with Hillary Clinton, as the last two states held their nominating contests.

With 31 delegates to the Democrats' August convention at stake, Democrats in South Dakota and Montana cast the final votes in the five-month state-by-state battle for the right to face Republican John McCain in November's presidential election.

Mr Obama needed fewer than 40 delegates to reach the 2,118 required to capture the nomination and become the first black presidential nominee of a major US political party.

The Illinois senator could hit that number as soon this morning depending on how quickly he wins commitments from nearly 200 uncommitted superdelegates - party officials who are free to back any candidate.

He secured one key endorsement yesterday from US Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina, the third-ranking Democrat in the US House of Representatives and the top-ranking black member of Congress.

"Today the process ends," Mr Clyburn told NBC's Today show.

He urged other superdelegates to follow his lead and announce their support today so the Democratic Party could have a clear nominee as soon as possible. Voting was due to end in South Dakota at 7 p.m. MDT/9 p.m. EDT (0100 GMT), and in Montana an hour later, with results expected shortly after.

Mrs Clinton and her campaign sent mixed signals on Monday about how long she would stay in a nomination race that she began as a heavy favourite but now has little chance of winning.

Campaigning in South Dakota, Mrs Clinton said the end of the voting marked "the beginning of a new phase of the campaign" in which she will plead her case to superdelegates that she would be the strongest candidate against Mr McCain in November.

"The decision will fall to the delegates empowered to vote at the Democratic convention. I will be spending the coming days making my case to those delegates," the New York senator and former first lady told supporters in Yankton, South Dakota.

But her husband, former President Bill Clinton, sounded like he was counting down the hours at a campaign stop in South Dakota on Monday. "This may be the last day I'm ever involved in a campaign of this kind," he said. One of Mrs Clinton's top supporters, Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, told CNN he expected her to spend today and tomorrow making her pitch to superdelegates.