Hard-Fought Democratic Race Nears the Finish Line

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• GWEN IFILL:

  Fifty-four primaries and 35 million votes later, the Democrats spend the last day on the trail.

  After more than a year of speeches, debates and, in the end, painstaking numbers-crunching, the Democratic nominating contest winds to a close tomorrow with two final primaries in Montana and South Dakota.

  Hillary Clinton, on the heels of a weekend victory in Puerto Rico, rallied supporters this afternoon in Rapid City, South Dakota.

  SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), New York: We had a great victory in Puerto Rico yesterday, another lopsided win. I am now over 300,000 votes ahead in the popular vote.

  And I am slightly behind in delegates, but we're going to make our case to all of the delegates as to who would be the best president, number one, because that is the most important question, and, number two, who would be the stronger candidate against John McCain. And I believe, on both of those questions, I am the person who should get the support and get the nomination.

• GWEN IFILL:

  Barack Obama has already left the primary competition behind, shifting his attention today to a general election target, Michigan.

  The front-runner's first task: to heal his divided party.

  SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), Illinois: You know, I know that, during this campaign, in the primaries there have been some worries about whether or not the Democratic Party will be divided after it's all over.

  There's been thinking, well, you know, are the Clinton folks going to support the Obama folks? And are the Obama folks going to get together with the Clinton folks?

  Let me tell you something: First of all, Senator Clinton has run an outstanding race, she is an outstanding public servant, and she and I will be working together in November.

• GWEN IFILL:

  Obama assumed the mantle of virtual nominee after the Democratic Party's Rules and Bylaws Committee awarded him a trove of new delegates from disputed contests in Florida and Michigan during a heated weekend meeting.

  Under the agreement, both states — which were sanctioned for violating primary scheduling rules — will be seated at the party's August convention, but each delegate will have only half a vote.

  Clinton adviser and Rules Committee member Harold Ickes voted against the compromise over Michigan, where Obama did not compete.

• HAROLD ICKES, Clinton Campaign Adviser:

  There's been a lot of rhetoric during this meeting about democracy, and on and on and on. I am stunned that we have the gall and the chutzpa to substitute our judgment for 600,000 voters.

• GWEN IFILL:

  At various points, committee members who supported the compromise were shouted down by Clinton supporters in the room.

  ALICE HUFFMAN, DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee: And you're about to see the best of this party in action, because it is…

• ALICE HUFFMAN:

  Do not interrupt me. And, please, don't do what people expect us to do.

• AUDIENCE MEMBER:

  You took away votes!

• ALICE HUFFMAN:

  We've given you some back, too.

  And let me just tell you this. When we get this vote, we will leave here more united than we came.

• GWEN IFILL:

  Obama is not out of the political woods yet. Late Saturday, he announced he had decided to leave Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where he was a member for 20 years. The church's current pulpit and its former pastor had become a recurring thorn in the side for the Illinois senator.

  Last Sunday, a visiting priest, the Revered Michael Pfleger, mocked Hillary Clinton.

• SEN. BARACK OBAMA:

  It's clear that now that I am a candidate for president, every time something is said in the church by anyone associated with Trinity, including guest pastors, the remarks will be imputed to me, even if they totally conflict with my long-held views, statements, and principles.

• GWEN IFILL:

  Clinton's 68 percent to 32 percent win in Puerto Rico provided a psychological boost for her flagging campaign.

• SEN. HILLARY CLINTON:

  You voted for the person you believe will be the stronger nominee and the strongest president and you are not alone. You are joining millions of people across the United States, more than 17.6 million, plus the votes that we've received today, people who don't always make the headlines, who don't always feel like your voices are being heard. I think about these people all the time, because that's who I care most about.

• GWEN IFILL:

  But Obama still leads the overall delegate count by more than 150 and grows ever closer every day to the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination.

  On the Republican side, John McCain has turned all his attention to Obama, criticizing him today before the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee. He said Obama is too willing to negotiate with enemies of Israel.

  SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), Arizona: We hear talk of a meeting with the Iranian leadership offered up as if it were some sudden inspiration, a bold new idea that somehow nobody has ever thought of before.

  Yet it's hard to see what such a summit with President Ahmadinejad would actually gain, except an earful of anti-Semitic rants and a worldwide audience for a man who denies one Holocaust and talks before frenzied crowds about starting another.

  Such a spectacle would harm Iranian moderates and dissidents, as the radicals and hard-liners strengthen their position and suddenly acquire the appearance of respectability.

• GWEN IFILL:

  McCain travels to Tennessee and Louisiana tomorrow.

  Obama plans an election night rally in Minneapolis, the site of this summer's Republican nominating convention.

  And Clinton will speak to supporters in her home state of New York.