See other (s)Elections Articles
Title: Obama, McCain win Vermont, CNN projects (Exit polling)
Source:
CNN
URL Source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/04/march.4.contests/index.html
Published: Mar 4, 2008
Author: CNN
Post Date: 2008-03-04 19:18:40 by robin
Keywords: None
Views: 17
(CNN) -- Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain will win the Vermont primaries, CNN projects. Vermont gives Obama his 12th consecutive win and puts McCain 17 delegates closer to clinching the Republican nomination. In addition to Vermont, Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island are also holding contests Tuesday. In Texas, Sen. Hillary Clinton holds a two-to-one advantage over Obama with Hispanic voters, while Obama has the overwhelming advantage with black voters in the state's Democratic primary, according to CNN's exit poll. These early surveys provide a snapshot of the race, but are not conclusive on who will win the critical contest. Eighty-three percent of blacks voted for Obama, while 16 percent supported Clinton, according to the exit poll. Meanwhile, 64 percent of Hispanics backed Clinton, while 32 percent went for Obama. Some say Clinton must win the Democratic contests in Texas and Ohio if she is to continue to compete with Obama, who has won 11 contests in a row going back nearly a month. "If Obama wins Texas and Ohio, it's game over," said CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider. Early exit polls indicate a distinct "age gap" in both states. Obama appeals most strongly to younger voters while older voters favor Clinton. Among Ohio Democratic primary voters aged 17 to 29, 65 percent went for Obama, and 34 percent went for Clinton. Among those age 60 and older, Clinton leads Obama 67-31 percent. The same pattern holds true in early exit polling from the Texas Democratic primary. Among voters aged 18 to 29, Obama leads Clinton 61-39 percent, and among voters 60 and older, Clinton leads Obama 63- 36 percent. While Tuesday is an important primary day for Democrats, it could also be a turning point for Republicans. McCain could win enough delegates to mathematically secure his party's nomination Tuesday, though he has been the presumed GOP nominee for weeks. Steady streams of people cast ballots in Tuesday's contests, and officials in the delegate-rich states of Ohio and Texas said they expect record turnouts. Despite freezing rain in northern Ohio and bad weather elsewhere in the state, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner estimated that as many as 52 percent of registered voters might go to the polls, 15 percentage points higher than the average of past presidential primaries. Three polling stations in Jefferson County in eastern Ohio were relocated Tuesday because of flooding that could have prevented people from voting, election officials said. County residents unable to get to their designated polling places because of bad weather were given the option of casting provisional ballots Tuesday in Steubenville, the county seat, at the offices of the Board of Elections, officials said. The board has to verify those ballots by March 25. I-Reporter Bruce Goldberg reported long lines at the polls in Grapevine, Texas. When he voted at 7:20 a.m., he said 70 people had already voted in the Democratic primary. "There's usually a big line of Republicans and nobody at the Democratic table at the primary," he said. "When I walked in this morning, there were a lot of cars out, and it was the complete opposite." Poll workers in Collin County, near Dallas, also report high turnout for the Democratic primary. The Dallas Morning News called Collin one of the most Republican counties in the state. Poll workers there estimated that nearly three-quarters of the Democratic voters would participate in the Democratic caucuses to be held after the polls close. In an unusual system, the 193 delegates that Texas will send to the Democratic National Convention will be split between Obama and Clinton according to the results of both the primary and the caucuses. State party officials say the dual primary/caucus system promotes participation in the party. Both Clinton and Obama have encouraged supporters to do the "Texas two-step" and vote in both events. Obama comes into the day with momentum on his side. He has 1,378 pledged delegates and superdelegates to Clinton's 1,269. Neither candidate is close to the 2,025 needed to win the Democratic nomination. Clinton and Obama will be competing for 370 delegates Tuesday. Texas and Ohio, which has 141 delegates, will be the biggest prizes. Former President Bill Clinton said in February that if his wife wins Ohio and Texas, she'll go on to win the nomination. Whether she will drop out of the race if she doesn't win either of those states is another question. While visiting a polling station in the mostly-Latino east end of Houston on Tuesday morning, Clinton said she felt "really good about" Tuesday's elections and was expecting "tremendous" turnout across Texas. Clinton did not make a prediction about the outcome of Tuesday's races, but her campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, was not so guarded Tuesday morning. He predicted Clinton wins in both Texas and Ohio. "I've said this for a long time. These are two big states," he told CNN. "There's a lot of big issues: national security, the issues on the economy. Those are Hillary's issues. She's been out front in the polling data on all of those." Clinton has been attacking Obama in the run-up to Tuesday's contests. On Monday, Clinton questioned her Democratic rival's commitment to renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, a charge that Obama's camp called a "blatant distortion." CNN's poll of polls, an averaging of the most recent surveys in each state, suggests the race is extremely tight, with Obama ahead by 2 points in Texas and Clinton ahead by 5 in Ohio. But the polls also indicate there are still many undecided voters in both states. Clinton is also ahead in Rhode Island, which, like Ohio, has a large Catholic and working-class population. For the Republicans, it's not a question of who but when. McCain has 1,047 delegates, 144 shy of the 1,191 he needs to lock in the Republican nomination. On Tuesday, 256 GOP delegates are at stake, so if McCain has a good night, he can go over the top. Challenger Mike Huckabee is still in the race, even though he faces astronomical odds. The former Arkansas governor has said he would bow out if McCain wins a majority of the delegates. CNN's Paul Steinhauser, Rachel Stratfield, Mary Snow, Mark Preston and Sasha Johnson contributed to this report. Obama, McCain win Vermont, CNN projects
Watch Clinton say she is optimistic »
See scenes from Tuesday's voting »
Allocate delegates yourself and see how the numbers add up »Watch more about the Rhode Island primaries »
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread