Voters in Montana and South Dakota are casting their ballots Tuesday in the last two Democratic presidential primaries this year.
All voting is due to end in South Dakota by 100 GMT Wednesday and polls close in Montana at 200 GMT Wednesday.
There are 16 pledged delegates at stake in Montana and 15 in South Dakota.
But there's much more at stake than the two contests.
Senator Barack Obama of Illionois is just 42 delegates shy of the 2,118 now needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination.
There are not enough pledged delegates at stake in Montana and South Dakota to put Obama over the top, but a rush of endorsements by the remaining undeclared "superdelegates" could allow him to claim victory when he takes the stage in Minnesota Tuesday evening.
Superdelegates are the approximate 825 Democratic governors, members of Congress, and party officials who each get to vote in the delegate nominating process.
Around 200 of them have yet to endorse either Obama or his rival Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.
Obama is looking more and more toward a likely general election matchup with John McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
And while not taking anything for granted, it appears he's starting to look at Clinton as less of a rival and more as an important ally who can help him win in November.
Clinton's road to capturing the nomination is much longer and more difficult.
She trails Obama by 159 delegates and is 201 delegates shy of capturing the nomination.
Her main shot at winning now appears to depend on a mass wave of superdelegate support, which seems unlikely.
Clinton's been making the case for weeks now that she's ahead in the popular vote in the primaries and caucuses to date.
Much of this argument hinges on how Michigan's disputed primary is counted. If Obama is awarded no votes, since his name wasn't on the ballot, Clinton leads by 194,000 in the popular vote count.
If Obama is awarded the 40 percent who voted uncommitted in the primary, he's ahead of Clinton by 45,000 votes in the overall count.
Regardless of the numbers, this argument doesn't seem to be flying with superdelegates.
Since Super Tuesday, on February 5, 229 superdelegates have endorsed Obama while 100 have backed Clinton.
In a bit of symbolism, Obama will spend Tuesday night at a rally at the Excel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the same arena which will house the 2008 Republican National Convention in September.
Clinton will spend the night at an campaign event in New York City. What she will say is the question of the night.
Source:Xinhua
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