Obama Takes His Message To Record Crowd
PORTLAND, ORE. -- With just two days left until the May 20 primaries, Barack Obama continued to campaign in Oregon today, drawing a massive crowd at an outdoor rally here, his largest crowd to date according to the campaign. They estimated that 75,000 people were in attendance, citing the Portland fire chief.
Noticeably absent from Obama's campaign schedule in the coming days are stops in Kentucky. When asked if he has given up on state's primary, where Hillary Clinton holds double-digit lead in the polls, Obama said he doesn't give up on anything.
"I don't give up on things, we've gotta make choices and we can't be everywhere at once," Obama told reporters after making a local stop for ice cream with his family.
Obama's top advisers have argued that May 20 will be a pivotal day for the campaign because they will have gained the majority of elected pledged delegates. Even though Obama said he will not declare victory on Tuesday, he said he will have a stronger case to present to superdelegates.
"We will have the majority of pledged delegates at that point and obviously are going to make the argument to any superdelegates remaining that we should be the nominee," Obama said.
Publicly the campaign has said they will not encourage Clinton to drop out of the race and will leave that decision up to her. However, Obama has altogether stopped criticizing her on the stump and has ratcheted up his rhetoric against John McCain.
"I just want everybody to understand, that Senator Clinton and I have had a terrific contest, she has been a formidable candidate, she has been smart and tough and determined and she has worked as hard as she can. And she has run an extraordinary campaign, it has been an extraordinary campaign," Obama said here today.
"And look, we have real differences on certain issues, but whatever differences exist between myself and Senator Clinton pale in comparison to the differences with the other side."