U.S. Democratic Senator for Illinois Barack Obama beat Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York in Tuesday's Mississippi primary as expected, but there is no end in sight to the neck-and-neck race between them.
As a result, Obama will collect a majority of the 33 delegates at stake in the state, but Clinton will also garner a share because the Democrats' way of delegate allocation is proportional, not winner-take-all.
Neither candidate is expected to clinch the sufficient number of delegates from nomination elections to win the nomination.
A prolonged, indecisive battle between Obama and Clinton will be a nightmare for Democrats, which have a good chance to win back the White House this year.
At the same time, Sen. John McCain of Arizona has already secured the Republican presidential nomination and will have enough time to figure out his way to fight either of the Democratic candidates in the November face-off.
The contest between Obama and Clinton also split the Democratic electorate, as exit polls showed in Mississippi.
Obama won the support of 91 percent of African American voters while Clinton won 72 percent of the state's white vote.
After Mississippi, the contest will go to Pennsylvania, where 158 delegates will be at stake on April. 22.
However, that day won't break the current pattern of the Democratic race either.
Obama rejects "dream ticket"
Recently the Clinton camp signaled that the former first lady is willing to take up Obama as a running mate.
But Obama beat back any notion of giving up his presidential bid to be Clinton's running mate.
"I want everybody to be absolutely clear. I'm not running for vice president. I'm running for president of the United States of America," he said.
"With all due respect, I have won twice as many states as Senator Clinton. I have won more of the popular vote than Senator Clinton. I have more delegates than Senator Clinton."
The Illinois senator went on to say, "It's like when somebody’s trying to bamboozle you. When they're trying to hoodwink you. They are trying to hoodwink you."
Party elders to step in
Worrying about the prolonged internal fight, Democratic Party elders said they are prepared to step in.
Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean said he's willing to step in to avert any outbreak of internal conflicts at the August 25-28convention in Denver.
"If we have to sit the two candidates down together, or their campaigns down together, and try to figure out how to make peace and have a convention that's going to work, then that's fine," Dean told ABC News.
"That is my job, and we'll be happy to do it," he said.
However, Dean said it's still too soon for that meeting, with more state primaries to come.
But it's increasingly likely that the Democratic nomination will be decided by the party leaders who make up the 796 super delegates either at the convention or before.
To pressure super delegates to decide before the August convention, party heavyweights are going to have to twist some arms, including that of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, former President Jimmy Carter and former Vice President Al Gore.
Re-elections for Florida, Michigan?
Another possible way out is to hold re-elections in Florida and Michigan, on the assumption that the over 300 delegates at stake for the two states will make a difference for the nomination race.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has refused to recognize the results of primaries in Florida and Michigan because the states voted earlier than authorized by the committee.
Neither Clinton nor Obama campaigned in the states, and Obama's name wasn't even on the ballot in Michigan.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., backed the possibility of a mail-in caucus.
"I think only a mail kind of a vote will work," Levin said. "It's better than a 50-50 split, which really overrides public voting."
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican, also advocated that the delegates already selected should be seated.
However, the DNC must change its rules to allow such a re-election.
Source:Xinhua
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