WASHINGTON - Sen. Barack Obama inched closer to securing the Democratic presidential nomination with delegate pickups in Nevada, Kansas and Maryland.
In Nevada, Obama stole a delegate from rival Hillary Rodham Clinton by drawing more supporters at the state Democratic convention Saturday.
A vote of more than 2,500 convention delegates broke 55-45 percent in Obama's favor, giving Obama 14 of Nevada's 25 pledged delegates to the National Democratic Convention in Denver this summer to Clinton's 11.
The shift is a gain of one pledged delegate for Obama over the split calculated after the state's January caucuses.
Although Clinton won the support of 51 percent of the caucus-goers in January, under the complicated system of awarding delegates Obama was put on track to winning 13 delegates to Clinton's 12.
Nevada Democrats were also scheduled to select an additional unpledged, or "add-on," delegate later in the day.
In an attempt to draw supporters, the Clinton campaign sent the New York senator's most popular surrogate to speak on her behalf, former President Clinton.
Faced with a vocal crowd of Obama backers, Bill Clinton all but abandoned typical campaign rhetoric. He mentioned his wife's candidacy only briefly, and instead focused his comments on a call for party unity against the Republicans in November.
"Don't you forget why you came here. You did not go to all this trouble to have an argument with each other," Clinton said. "The argument is necessary so we can pick the best president and the most electable one. Those are the only two things that matter ... After that, we have to get the show on the road, folks. We have a country to change and a future to secure."
Kansas Democrats also held their state convention Saturday, selecting Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson as an add-on delegate. He endorsed Obama in February.

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