Clinton sees end of road for campaign

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By Sean Lengell

Hillary Rodham Clinton today will make her last pitch for the disqualified Michigan and Florida delegates to count toward the Democratic presidential nomination, even as she now concedes the race will end soon after Tuesday´s final two primaries when undeclared superdelegates begin to choose sides.

The Democratic Party's Rules and Bylaws Committee convenes its long-awaited hearing to decide the fate of combined 313 disqualified delegates from the two states, and, in turn, the fate of Mrs. Clinton's long-shot chance of overcoming Sen. Barack Obama´s delegate lead.

Mrs. Clinton yesterday rejected the notion of a summer-long fight to capture the nomination.

"I think after the final primaries, people are going to start making up their minds. I think that is the natural progression that one would expect," Mrs. Clinton told Montana reporters in a conference call.

"I think that people will have to ask themselves those questions: Who would be the best president in terms of preparation and readiness and effectiveness, and who would be the stronger candidate? And I imagine that process will begin after the end of the last primaries," Mrs. Clinton said.

The remaining Democratic primaries take place in Puerto Rico tomorrow and Montana and South Dakota on Tuesday.

The rules committee will meet to try to determine how to distribute the combined 313 delegates, who were stripped of their voting status for the August convention when the states held primaries ahead of Feb. 5.

Party officials say both campaigns must agree with any compromise, making it unlikely Mrs. Clinton will pick up enough delegates to upend Mr. Obama's delegate lead.

However, both camps agree the so-called "magic number" needed to win the nomination will change from the current 2,026. If Team Clinton gets its way with a full seating, the figure would increase to 2,210.

Under current rules, Mr. Obama is about 41 delegates shy of the nomination, and about 150 superdelegates are undeclared.