Demographic, Cultural Dividing Lines Complicate ’08 Race

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• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  With the presidential primary finish line in sight, Kentucky and Oregon are ready to take their turns.

  According to a pair of new polls, tomorrow's Democratic primaries could produce widely different outcomes. One survey of Kentucky voters shows Hillary Clinton with a commanding 25-point advantage over Barack Obama, while an Oregon poll has Obama with a narrow 4-point lead.

  Clinton barnstormed across the Bluegrass State today, beginning with a morning rally in Maysville, where she again claimed the race for the Democratic nomination is far from over.

  SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), New York: We have a very close contest. The votes, the delegates, and this is nowhere near over. None of us is going to have the number of delegates we're going to need to get to the nomination, although I understand my opponent and his supporters are going to claim that.

  The fact is we have to include Michigan and Florida. We cannot…

  We cannot claim that we have a nominee based on 48 states, particularly two states that are so important for us to win in the fall. So part of our challenge is making sure that we nominate the person most able to win, and I believe I'm the stronger candidate against John McCain.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  Still, Obama added five more super-delegates today, West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd among them. According to the Associated Press, Obama's lead in the overall delegate count now stands at 194.

  He spent the day campaigning in Montana, which holds its primary June 3rd, and he resurrected his criticism of John McCain for refusing to talk with leaders of rogue nations.

  SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), Illinois: For all their tough talk, one of the things you have to ask yourself is, "What are George Bush and John McCain afraid of?"

  Demanding that a country meets all your conditions before you meet with them, that's not a strategy. That's just naive, wishful thinking.

  I'm not afraid that we'll lose some propaganda fight with a dictator. It's time for American to win those battles, because we've watched George Bush lose them year after year after year.

  It's time to restore our security and our standing in the world. And you can vote for John McCain, and nothing will change.

  We'll keep fighting a war in Iraq that hasn't made us safer. We'll keep talking tough in Washington, while countries like Iran ignore our tough talk, or we can turn the page.

  We can restore the tradition of tough, disciplined and principled direct diplomacy that we've always used to protect the American people and advance America's interests.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  McCain addressed the same issue during a speech to a Restaurant Association meeting in Chicago.

  SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), Arizona: Senator Obama has declared and repeatedly reaffirmed his intention to meet the leader of Iran without any preconditions, likening it to meetings between former American presidents and the leaders of the Soviet Union.

  Such a statement betrays the depth of Senator Obama's inexperience and reckless judgment. These are very serious deficiencies for an American president to possess.

  An ill-conceived meeting between an ill-conceived meeting between the president of the U.S. and the president of Iran and the massive world media coverage it would attract would increase the prestige of an implacable foe of the United States, and reinforce his confidence that Iran's dedication to acquiring nuclear weapons, supporting terrorists, and destroying the state of Israel had succeeded in winning concessions from the most powerful nation on Earth.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  More and more, the two candidates appear to be battling on general election turf, with McCain today also singling out Obama for his opposition to trade deals, and Obama criticizing McCain for the number of influential lobbyists running his campaign.