For first time ever ...
Kentucky a player in Democratic presidential primary

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Tuesday, May 20, 2008, 2 a.m. -- For the first time in history, the Commonwealth of Kentucky is a major player in the Democratic presidential primary.

And despite the fact that Sen. Hillary Clinton's win in Kentucky is all but assured, the state's 51 delegates will provide Sen. Barack Obama the numbers he needs to claim a primary victory -- which pundits believe he will do from Iowa this evening.

Sen. Clinton made a campaign stop Saturday at Maker's Mark Distillery in Loretto -- on the same day local Obama supporters held a rally that lacked a live candidate. In his place, supporters played video and audio of the Illinois senator's campaign speeches.

Sen. Clinton visited Western Kentucky University on Sunday and campaigned again Monday in Maysville.

Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, made a campaign sweep through Kentucky last last week, with stops in Louisville, Bardstown and Elizabethtown on Thursday and several stops in West Kentucky on Friday.

It's clear Clinton isn't looking for just another primary win, but hoping to deliver Obama a good old-fashioned butt-whooping -- one that will help her convince superdelegates that she remains a valid contender in the presidential primary, even if against unlikely odds.

After today, there are only three primaries left: Puerto Rico (June 1st), Montana and South Dakota (June 3rd). The remaining delegates total 86.

Why Kentucky is important

Kentucky and Oregon today will both conduct their presidential primary. Up for grabs are Kentucky's 51 delegates and 52 in Oregon.

Since the first Kentucky presidential primary in 1972, the Democratic nominee has mostly been decided by the time the state held its primary election. Never before has there been such a closely contested Democratic presidential primary.

Obama, according to The New York Times delegate count, needs 113.5 delegates before today to get the nomination. Clinton needs 311. Because Obama will win a share of the remaining delegates, it is nearly mathmatically impossible for her to win the nomination outright, no matter how large her victory over Obama is here in Kentucky.

In the Democratic primary, delegates are awarded proportionately.And though the 103 delegates up for grabs today aren't enough for Obama to win the nomination formally, its clear to most in the party that his lead is insurmountable.

Pundits say Clinton's campaign will continue the next two weeks so she can say she finished on her own terms and was not a quitter. In recent weeks, Obama's stump speeches have softened their attacks on Clinton, targeting instead his presumed general election opponent Sen. John McCain.

Presidential primaries relatively new to Kentucky.

Primary elections are a relatively new phenomenon for Kentucky. Following the riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the Democratic party introduced reforms to encourage greater participation in the presidential primary process.

Only 13 states held presidential primaries in 1968. Delegates in the other states were selected at state conventions and district meetings, and those delegates voted at the Democratic National Convention.

In those 13 1968 Democratic presidential primary elections, Sen. Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota won the popular vote after the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. The decision on who would emerge as the party's nominee was decided at the convention in Chicago, where Vice President Hubert H. Humphery was given the nomination, though Humphrey was not on the ballot in any state primary.

Kentucky's first presidential primary election was held in 1972. Sen. George McGovern won the Democratic nomination. Former DNC chairman Sen. Henry Jackson of Washington won the primary in Kentucky and seven other states that year.