Clinton wins easily in Puerto Rico (2nd Lead)

Jun 1, 2008, 20:58 GMT

San Juan, Puerto Rico - Former first lady Hillary Clinton scored what could be her final primary victory Sunday, winning the Democratic presidential primary in Puerto Rico.

Major US television networks projected her as the winner immediately after polls closed on the Caribbean island, which is a commonwealth of the United States. With 29 per cent of precincts counted, Clinton led with 68 per cent of the vote to 32 per cent for Senator Barack Obama.

The only remaining primaries are Tuesday in South Dakota and Montana, which are believed to favour the front-running Obama.

This week marks the end of five months of state-by-state voting for the nomination, with Obama, 46, holding a small but decisive lead in delegates over Clinton, 60.

Sunday's primary followed a blow Clinton suffered after an internal party squabble was settled Saturday with a compromise for seating delegates from disputed January primaries in Florida and Michigan.

Even if Clinton wins all 86 delegates up for grabs combined Sunday in Puerto Rico and Tuesday in Montana and South Dakota, she will fall short of the threshold of 2,118 delegates - the new total to win the party's presidential nomination, after Saturday's action by the Democratic National Committee rules panel.

Obama would have to sweep an overwhelming number - about 68 delegates - of elected delegates by Tuesday to reach the mark, also deemed unlikely by analysts.

That means the final nomination rests in the hands of about 170 still undeclared, top Democrats, the so-called super delegates, who were the target of high-decibel pitches on Sunday's political talk shows.

Clinton supporters argued that the New York senator has won 17 million of an estimated 35 million votes cast during the five-month Democratic nomination contest, and that the remaining super delegates should support her because she's the most electable.

According to an average of polls taken by realclearpolitics.com, Clinton would beat Republican nominee John McCain by 1.8 per cent in November's general elections, while Obama's victory would be much narrower, at 0.7 per cent - a strength her strategists say indicates her strong standing among women, blue-collar workers and Hispanic voters.

'We've won the popular vote - more votes than anyone else in the history of primaries,' said Howard Wolfson, a top Clinton strategist, on Fox News.

Obama's supporters charged that Clinton's calculation of 17 million votes excludes the caucus voters in states where the African- American candidate clinched the lion's share of delegates. They also argued that super delegates must endorse the will of Democratic voters who gave Obama a majority of elected delegates. In particular, the party would alienate the African-American vote if Obama's lead was overturned.

The possibility of a joint ticket with Obama in the presidential slot and Clinton as his vice president has been raised by several Obama supporters in recent days, including Florida Congressman Robert Wexler.

It remains unclear what Clinton will do until the end of June, which is the deadline set by Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Howard Dean and top Democratic leaders in Congress for a decision by super delegates. Party functionaries are anxious about losing any more time against McCain.

Clinton supporters have vowed to challenge some of the outcomes of the DNC rules committee meeting on Saturday, which could extend the contest until the August 25-28 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.