OBAMA CONFIDENT OF VICTORY BY NEXT WEEK

Report from CAN

WASHINGTON: White House hopeful Barack Obama's campaign said Thursday he was on the verge of beating Hillary Clinton to the Democratic nomination once their exhausting primary slog climaxes next week.

"Obviously, it's not over until we get to the convention or until Senator Clinton makes the decision that she's now prepared to support a unified ticket," former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle told MSNBC television.

But Daschle, a national co-chair of Obama's campaign, said "I do believe that sometime over the course of the next week we're going to be in a very good position to claim at least that we've got the majority of the delegates."

After nearly six months of coast-to-coast campaigning, Obama is in striking distance of amassing enough Democratic delegates to earn the right to take on Republican John McCain in November's presidential election.