Obama set to secure Democratic nomination for second term

What a difference four years makes.

Tuesday’s primaries throughout the Northeast are expected to give President Obama enough delegates to officially clinch the Democratic nomination for a second term.

The milestone comes more than a month earlier than it did in 2008, when Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton battled each other until the final primary contests in early June.

This time, Obama faced no significant primary challenger. Instead his Chicago-based campaign operation has been building a massive field and digital operation to prepare for the general election battle.

Spokespeople for the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee said they did not plan to highlight the clinching night.

But in recent weeks, the Obama campaign operations in Iowa and New Hampshire have pointed out that while Mitt Romney had largely abandoned those states after their respective nominating contests, the Democrats’ operation has continued to expand its footprint in the swing states.

The president is expected to speak tonight from the University of Boulder in Colorado, part of a three-state swing of college campuses on the issue of student loan interest rates.

Obama’s remarks are scheduled to begin just before Romney speaks from New Hampshire, as the former Massachusetts governor is expected to move closer to the 1,144 delegates he needs to officially secure the GOP nomination.

Original source: Obama set to secure Democratic nomination for second term