By CHARLES HURT, DC Bureau Chief
May 19, 2008
Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign yesterday rejected the notion that Barack Obama will be entitled to claim the Democratic nomination after tomorrow night's primaries in Kentucky and Oregon.
"There is no standard under which Senator Obama will have secured the nomination Tuesday night," Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson fumed in a statement.
"Declaring mission accomplished doesn't make it so," he added. "And taking victory laps before the nomination is actually secured is a slap in the face to the voters of Florida and Michigan and the states that have not yet voted."
According to the Obama campaign, he will have secured an unsurpassable majority of pledged delegates in the primary contests after his expected big win in Oregon, leaving Sen. Clinton with no hope of winning the nomination short of convincing the free-agent superdelegates to throw the race in her favor.
Obama plans to celebrate the milestone in Iowa after the polls close.
churt@nypost.com
