Barack Obama to clinch Democratic nomination

President Barack Obama will clinch the Democratic nomination for president on Tuesday, ending a low-key primary race that many people probably did not realise was happening.

Barack Obama who is once again the democrat's presidential candidate

Mr Obama is certain to reach the 2,778 delegates he needs to secure his party's nod for a second time when five states vote on Tuesday. He has won almost every delegate so far, with a few exceptions in some southern states that will not vote Democratic in November.

Campaign officials however say they are focused on the general election, as they have been for months, and the all-out-certain Republican nominee, Mitt Romney.

Four years ago, Mr Obama was still in an epic primary battle against Hillary Clinton. The fight for the nomination did not end until June, on the last day of the primary calendar, when Mr Obama inched across the finish line on his way to the general election and eventually the White House.

Mr Obama was a big underdog heading into the 2008 primaries. Facing the well-financed former first lady, Mr Obama was the junior senator from Illinois, a black man with a funny sounding name. No foreign policy experience. No military experience.

His resume may have been a bit thin, but he parlayed his compelling life story and an inspiring message of hope and change into an unlikely run for the Democratic nomination and victory over Sen. John McCain.

This year, Mr Obama's march to the nomination has generated little interest because he has no major primary challenger, no one who made the ballot in more than a handful of states.

Democratic voters, however, are not unanimously behind the president.

In Oklahoma, anti-abortion protester Randall Terry, who founded Operation Rescue, got 18 per cent of the vote in the Democratic presidential primary March 6. That should have been good enough to win eight delegates, but state party officials said Mr Terry did not follow party rules and was not a "bona fide Democrat."

The delegates were awarded to Mr Obama; Terry complained he was the victim of "political insider trading."

In Alabama, 18 per cent of Democratic voters voted for "uncommitted" in the March 13 primary, so the state party will send eight uncommitted delegates to the Democratic national convention.

Mr Obama is unlikely to win Oklahoma or Alabama in the general election.