Dems Put Away Knives for Primaries

There’s an eerie calm over the Democratic battlefield ahead of tonight’s primaries in Oregon and Kentucky, as the candidates have reached a tentative détente. Clinton doesn’t want to be seen as hurting Obama’s chances in November, so she’s softened her tone considerably. But it’s a fragile peace that will be tested tonight, when Obama is expected to celebrate his pledged delegate majority in Iowa.

Clinton’s campaign sent a memo decrying the event as “a slap in the face of millions of voters.” Obama will use it to rally superdelegates to get on the bandwagon, but will not declare that he's won the nomination, in an attempt to avoid angering Clinton supporters by pushing her toward the door. One of Clinton’s rationales for soldiering on, her advisers say, is that her supporters will more easily accept Obama if she leaves on her terms. (More Barack Obama stories.)