Obama, Clinton campaign hard

PORTLAND, Ore., May 18 (UPI) -- A crowd estimated at 75,000 people cheered on Democratic U.S. presidential contender Barack Obama at a riverbank rally in Oregon Sunday.

The Illinois senator, who is pitted against Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York in the primary battle for their party's nomination to run against presumptive Republican candidate John McCain of Arizona, called it "the most spectacular setting for the most spectacular crowd" of his campaign thus far.

"Wow! Wow! Wow!" he said as he looked out on the crowd along the banks of the Willamette River.

Oregon and Kentucky have primaries Tuesday.

Clinton, who is running out of states to try to catch up to Obama in the delegate count, is in the midst of a four-day run through the Bluegrass State, taking a small-town approach and hitting multiple small venues.

"She has been a formidable candidate, smart and tough and determined," Obama said of his opponent almost as if he had already beaten her. "She has worked as hard as she can."

Clinton, speaking at several rallies in Kentucky, continued to tout herself as the candidate most likely to beat McCain and best prepared to get to work immediately upon being elected.

"I'm going to get to work as soon as I'm inaugurated to make sure that we do build a strong and prosperous middle class," she told a crowd in Loretto, Ky.