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/ 4 June 2008

Obama wins Democratic race

After making history by capturing the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama turns on Wednesday to the task of unifying a fractured party for a five-month battle for the White House with Republican John McCain. The Illinois senator on Tuesday locked up the 2 118 delegates he needs for victory at the August convention.

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/ 4 June 2008

Wall Street puts its money behind Obama

Wall Street is putting its money behind Democrat Barack Obama for president, despite worries that his administration would raise taxes and take a tougher line on trade and regulation. The signs Wall Street reads point to Democrats prevailing in the November presidential and general election as voters punish the incumbent Republican party.

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/ 4 June 2008

Clinton defiant in face of loss

Hillary Clinton refused to surrender to Barack Obama in the Democratic race for the United States presidency on Tuesday or to acknowledge she had reached the end of the road in her bid for the White House. Rather than concede the loss to Obama, the New York senator told a cheering crowd she would consult supporters and party leaders to decide the future of her campaign.

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/ 4 June 2008

The transformation of Barack Obama

It was, as nearly everyone among the thousands of jubilant supporters recognised, a little slice of history. Barack Obama, once seen as a most improbable presidential candidate, before their eyes had been declared the Democratic nominee and the first African-American to have a real shot at winning the White House.

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/ 3 June 2008

Obama eyes history as last primaries loom

Democrat Barack Obama stood on the brink of history on Tuesday, within reach of becoming America’s first black presidential nominee after a twisting, emotional and divisive battle with Hillary Clinton. As voters in the last two states, Montana and South Dakota, wrapped up the gruelling nominating marathon, Clinton faced the demise of her own quest.

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/ 1 June 2008

Obama quits Chicago church after race rows

Democrat Barack Obama said on Saturday he had quit his long-time Chicago church after months of controversy over racially laced pulpit rhetoric that still threatens to tarnish his White House hopes. The Illinois senator said he and his wife, Michelle, were withdrawing from the 8 000-strong congregation of the Trinity United Church of Christ.

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/ 31 May 2008

Another ‘pastor disaster’ upsets Obama campaign

Barack Obama’s campaign on Friday tried to contain a new ”pastor disaster” prompted by a video of a Catholic guest preacher at his Chicago church mocking Hillary Clinton’s tears.In a sermon last Sunday, Father Michael Pfleger, a long-time ally of Obama, accused Clinton and white voters of believing she deserved to be president because she is white.

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/ 29 May 2008

Obama expects to clinch nomination next week

Senator Barack Obama said on Wednesday he expected to become the Democratic United States presidential nominee after next week and he is considering an overseas trip that may include Iraq. After a hard-fought primary season against rival Democrat Hillary Clinton, Obama said the general election race will begin in earnest next week.

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/ 25 May 2008

Obama says Clinton ‘stirring up’ Florida controversy

Democrat Barack Obama accused rival Hillary Clinton on Saturday of ”stirring up” a controversy over the disqualified Florida primary election because it was her last hope of winning their party’s presidential nomination. Obama, an Illinois senator, is leading Clinton, a New York senator, in delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination to face Republican John McCain.

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/ 24 May 2008

Clinton draws rebuke over assassination remark

Hillary Clinton mentioned the June 1968 assassination of Robert Kennedy in explaining on Friday why she had resisted calls to end her White House bid, drawing a rebuke from Democratic front-runner Barack Obama’s campaign. Clinton, who later expressed regret over the remark, made it to the editorial board of theSioux Falls Argus Leader.

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/ 23 May 2008

Running mate sought as Obama shifts gear

Democratic party officials disclosed on Thursday that Barack Obama has sanctioned a hunt for a vice-presidential candidate, a further sign that he regards the battle with Hillary Clinton as being over. Time magazine, in a report in its next issue, quotes a friend of Bill Clinton saying he wants his wife to be the vice-presidential candidate.

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/ 21 May 2008

US Senator Kennedy has malignant brain tumour

Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, the brother of assassinated president John F Kennedy and the elder statesman of American liberal politics, has a malignant brain tumour, his doctors said on Tuesday. Kennedy (76) who has been hospitalised in Boston since he had a seizure on Saturday, will likely need chemotherapy and radiation therapy to treat the glioma.

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/ 21 May 2008

Obama moves closer to US presidential nomination

Barack Obama passed a milestone to move within reach of the United States Democratic presidential nomination on Tuesday, but rival Hillary Clinton refused to surrender. A split of two nominating contests — Obama handily won Oregon and Clinton crushed the front-runner in Kentucky — gave Obama a majority of pledged delegates won during their lengthy nominating fight.

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/ 20 May 2008

Clinton to Obama: Not so fast

Hillary Clinton had a warning on Monday for rival Barack Obama, who is on the verge of claiming the United States Democratic presidential nomination: Not so fast. ”This is nowhere near over,” Clinton said at a rally in Maysville, Kentucky, pressing ahead with her long-shot bid for the White House.

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/ 19 May 2008

Obama ready to declare himself winner

Barack Obama is planning to declare himself the effective winner of the long-running contest with Hillary Clinton at the close of the Kentucky and Oregon primaries on Tuesday. At that point, he should have passed one of the last remaining milestones in the race, securing more than half the 3 253 elected delegates.

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/ 16 May 2008

Bush appeasement slur angers Democrats

United States President George Bush used a visit to Israel on Thursday to denounce Democratic party offers to negotiate with America’s enemies in the Middle East as comparable to appeasement of Hitler. Although Bush did not name any Democratic politician, the party’s presidential contender Barack Obama has offered to open negotiations with the Iranian leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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/ 14 May 2008

Clinton easily wins West Virginia

Questions about Barack Obama’s inability to win over white, working-class voters were raised again tonight when Hillary Clinton won a landslide victory in West Virginia, one of the last contests of a prolonged primary season. Exit polls indicated she had won the state easily, by a margin of two to one.

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/ 12 May 2008

Obama prepares for McCain debates

Barack Obama, setting his sights well beyond Tuesday’s primary against Hillary Clinton, on Sunday began preparations for a summer series of debates against the Republican John McCain. While Clinton campaigned doggedly in West Virginia, which holds its primary on Tuesday, the Obama camp consolidated its claim on the Democratic nomination.