Clinton, Obama tied on Super Tuesday

Source: Xinhua | 02-06-2008 13:57

Presidential nominee races between the two Democratic candidates remained tight as the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses began to be closed.

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton  (D-NY) stands with her husband former U.S. President Bill  Clinton at her "Super Tuesday" primary election night rally in New York February 5, 2008. [Photo: Reuters]

Illinois Senator Barack Obama, who has maintained a two-digit lead over New York Senator Hillary Clinton as Georgia primary ballots are calculating, was projected by CNN and other U.S. media to win the state with a large population of black voters and Illinois, his home state.

In the states of Delaware, North Dakota, Alabama, Connecticut and his mother's hometown of Kansas, Obama was also foreseen to win.

His only rival, Clinton, was projected as the winner in the primaries of Oklahoma, Tennessee, Massachusetts and Arkansas, the state where she has lived for two decades and served as the First Lady.

As a two-term New York senator, Clinton was also likely to win the delegate-rich state, where, however, Obama spent his college life.

Her Super Tuesday was greatly boosted by the victory of New Jersey, the big state near New York that would award her a large number of delegates to the party's nomination convention.

Seen from the previous primaries and caucuses' results, Obama was more favored by independent, young, black voters and those who hope for the real changes to the nation and are dissatisfied with President George W. Bush's policies as well as prefer everyone but Clinton to be the presidential nominee.

On the other hand, Clinton showed prevalence, in particular, among white female, Latinos and registered voters as well as those who attach more attention to healthcare issue and a candidate's experience.

A total 24 states and American Samoa are holding their primaries and caucuses, virtually making the Super Tuesday a national primary day and a key day in the Democratic and Republican races for the White House.

States such as California, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York are expected to play a decisive role in the full-scale race due to their population and the number of delegates to nomination conventions they will award to candidates.

Exit polls showed that half of Democratic voters in the Super Tuesday states picked the economy as their priority, 30 percent cares more about Iraq war and 20 percent said health care.

It also showed that nearly half of Clinton's voters preferred experience to be the most important quality of a candidate, while 75 percent Obama supporters cited the candidate's ability to "bring about needed change."

According to the same polls, more than 10 percent of Democratic voters are under age 30 and 20 percent over 65 years old, while female voters outnumber male.

To become Democratic presidential nominee, a candidate has to win 2,025 delegates, a majority of the total attending the party's National Convention in Denver, Colorado, in late August.

Out of the total number, 3,253 delegates are elected or chosen on the state and local level but they are not actually bound to vote for the candidate. The party uses proportional representation to decide how many pledged delegates are awarded to each candidates.

The rest are the "Super delegates" usually automatically obtained by party's senior members and officials.

If all projections by far become true, Obama would have 225 delegates in hand, while 299 would in Clinton's pocket.

Editor:Du