HILLARY Clinton`s campaign anticipated a hefty win in today`s Puerto Rico primary but Barack Obama looked to have the Democrats` White House nod within his grasp after a fractious deal on Florida and Michigan.
The Caribbean US territory, which does not have the right to vote in November`s presidential election, is holding the third-last nominating contest heading to Tuesday`s climax of the primary season in Montana and South Dakota.
"We are going to win big here today,`` Clinton`s campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe told ABC News as the former first lady prepared for a victory rally in the Puerto Rican capital San Juan.
"We`re not going anywhere until someone has the magic number to be the nominee of the party,`` Mr McAuliffe said
But the Democratic Party`s decision to reinstate delegates from Michigan and Florida, with their voting power halved, put Obama two giant strides closer to making history as the first black presidential nominee.
Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean said the outcome decided by the party`s rules and bylaws committee was fair and backed even by pro-Clinton state leaders in Florida and Michigan.
"We think this is the beginning of the healing of the party,`` he said on CNN, despite screams of outrage from Clinton supporters at the committee meeting with some threatening to vote for McCain instead of Obama.
Obama`s communications director Robert Gibbs predicted that "sometime this week, we`ll probably have a nominee for the Democratic Party and then we can get to the need to bring change to this country``.
"If it`s not Tuesday, I think it will be fairly soon. We hope this week, absolutely,`` he said.
BRAZIL says it released pictures of its lost Amazon tribe to show their threat from the modern world - and to prove their doubters wrong. Amazon tribe pictures
