Primary Calendar Winds Down With Votes in Ky., Ore.

However, pressed on the significance of getting a majority of the pledged delegates, Daschle added: "Well, I can't imagine that the unpledged delegates . . . could ever overturn the majority of the pledged delegates. The pledged delegates are the elected representatives from every one of the states."

Clinton campaign chairman Terence R. McAuliffe, a former Democratic National Committee chairman, said on MSNBC, "No one should declare victory till this nomination is over," adding, "It's not over till someone has the magic number to be the nominee of the Democratic Party."

McAuliffe put that number at 2,210 total delegate votes -- not the commonly used current figure of 2,026 -- because he said Michigan and Florida ultimately must be counted. The Democratic Party stripped both states of their delegates after they moved up their primaries. Clinton won both, although she was the only major Democratic candidate on the ballot in Michigan.

McAuliffe predicted a Clinton win in Kentucky tonight by more than 20 percentage points, though Obama has outspent her in the state by five to one. He said Obama has not yet proved that he can defeat the New York senator.

"Why does she keep winning?" he asked. "You want to beat Hillary? Beat her."

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), a Clinton supporter, also said she should stay in the race. He said on MSNBC that it was a "fair point" for Democrats to be concerned about the negative impact of the protracted campaign on their chances against McCain in November. But a better point, he said, is that "if the Democratic Party can't come together, it doesn't even deserve the mantle of leadership to take this nation forward."

The WomenCount Political Action Committee, which says it was created to ensure a voice in the political process for the 51 percent of American citizens who are women, pressed an advertising campaign that began May 16 with a full-page ad in USA Today. The same ad in today's New York Times declared, "Hillary's voice is OUR voice, and she's speaking for all of us."

The San Francisco-based group added: "We know that when women vote, Democrats win. Now it is the responsibility of our party to hear our voices and count all of our votes."