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The delegate tally aside, the former first lady struggled to overcome an emerging Democratic consensus that Obama effectively wrapped up the nomination last week with a victory in the North Carolina primary and a narrow loss in Indiana.

He picked up four superdelegates during the day, including Roy Romer, former Democratic Party chairman.

''This race, I believe, is over,'' Romer told reporters on a conference call. He said only Clinton can decide when to withdraw, but he added: ''There is a time we need to end it and direct ourselves to the general election. I think that time is now.''

Only five more primaries remain on the calendar, beginning next week in Kentucky and Oregon, then Puerto Rico on June 1 and Montana and South Dakota two days later.

There's another important date on the calendar, though -- the May 31 meeting of a convention committee that will hear Clinton's appeal to seat the delegations from disputed primaries in Florida and Michigan.

Clinton has long argued to have the delegates seated -- a decision that would cut into Obama's delegate advantage -- even though the primaries were held so early in the year that they violated Democratic party rules.

In recent weeks, Obama has signaled a willingness to compromise on the issue as he has become more confident of his ultimate victory in the fight for the nomination.

Clinton and Obama briefly shook hands on the Senate floor Tuesday after interrupting their campaigns for a few hours to vote on energy-related bills.

In the days since, close to 30 superdelegates have swung behind Obama, evidence that party officials are beginning to coalesce around the first-term Illinois senator who is seeking to become the first black to win a major party presidential nomination. Three of his new supporters formerly backed Clinton, who surrendered her lead in superdelegates late last week for the first time since the campaign began.

In his appearance in Cape Girardeau, Mo., Obama sketched the case against McCain. ''For two decades, he has supported policies that have shifted the burden onto working people. And his only answer to the problems created by George Bush's policies is to give them another four years to fail,'' he said.

Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for McCain, said in response that Obama's rhetoric showed ''more of the same negative, partisan politics that have paralyzed Washington for too long. Barack Obama talks about change and bipartisanship, but he has never showed the leadership needed to bridge party divides.''

Clinton had spent parts of several days campaigning in West Virginia in search of victory.

She refrained from criticizing Obama directly, but had a cautionary word nonetheless for party leaders who seemed eager to pivot to the fall campaign. ''I keep telling people, no Democrat has won the White House since 1916 without winning West Virginia,'' she said at Tudor's Biscuit World in the state's capital city.

Obama was in the state on Monday, but it was clear he was looking beyond the primary.

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