Washington: As Barack Obama sought to put controversial statements by his minister behind him, he expanded his fragile lead over Hillary Rodham Clinton in delegates that will determine who receives the Democratic presidential nomination.

Obama has picked up at least nine delegates yesterday as Iowa began selecting its representatives for the nominating convention this summer. Obama claimed 52 per cent of the delegates, compared with 32 per cent for Clinton. Some delegates stuck with John Edwards, although he has dropped out of the race.

Also yesterday, California's Democratic Party finalized the delegate counts from its February 5 primary. Clinton picked up two more pledged delegates, raising her state total to 204; Obama gained five, raising his figure to 166.

But most of Obama's attention yesterday remained on countering inflammatory comments made by Rev Jeremiah Wright, former pastor of the Chicago church he joined nearly 20 years ago. "We have to come together," he told a town-hall meeting in the gymnasium of Plainfield High School near Indianapolis, decrying "the forces of division" over race that he said are intruding into the contest.

Comments by Wright, who has railed against the US and accused its leaders of bringing on the September 11, 2001 attacks by spreading terrorism, have been widely aired on television and the Internet. "If all I knew were those statements I saw on television, I would be shocked," Obama said yesterday. The Illinois senator's comments came a day after he denounced statements made by Wright while pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ.
Source : PTI