BREAKING NEWS
NBC News and MSNBC
updated less than 1 minute ago
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton threw up a roadblock to Sen. Barack Obama’s path to the Democratic presidential nomination by winning the giant Ohio primary, NBC News projected Tuesday night.
Clinton, D-N.Y., and Obama, D-Ill., split the smaller Rhode Island and Vermont primaries, according to NBC News, leaving Democrats to wait for Texas, the second big prize of the night, to provide clarity to the tight campaign. Results from Texas remained too close to call Tuesday night, NBC News projected.
Delegates to the Democratic National Convention are awarded proportionately, and those numbers will not be available until all returns are in. Going into Tuesday’s balloting, Obama led Clinton by 1,194-1,037, according to NBC News’ count.
Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain of Arizona wrapped up the Republican nomination after he won all four contests, NBC News projected. His only remaining serious rival, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, withdrew from the race Tuesday night.
Ohio results unclear amid confusion
In all, there were 370 Democratic delegates at stake Tuesday night, most of them in Ohio and Texas, where Clinton had hoped to stem Obama’s momentum.
Balloting was described as confusing across Ohio, where election workers reported a record turnout of voters asked to use new or unfamiliar methods to tabulate votes after the turmoil of the 2000 election.
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Voting was also described as confusing in Texas, where nearly half of delegates were being chosen in evening caucuses after the polls closed. The Clinton campaign alleged that Obama supporters were confiscating precinct chairmen’s manuals at the caucuses, as well as locking out Clinton supporters.
“What is happening tonight is an outrage ,” said Ace Smith, Clinton’s state director. “It’s really disturbing, and it’s really undemocratic what is going on.”
The obstacles did not discourage Texas Democrats who, because the nomination remained open, had their first chance in many years to have an impact on the contest.
| Introduction
The primaries in Ohio, Texas and Vermont were open to all voters, while in Rhode Island registered independents could choose which party’s primary to vote in. | Democratic primaries
In the Democratic primaries, independents were about one in five voters in Ohio, one in four in Texas, a third in Rhode Island and four in 10 in Vermont. | Republican primaries
Data for Republican primaries were available only in Ohio and Texas. In Ohio, independents were about one in seven GOP voters, in Texas one in five.
| Superdelegates
Roughly six in 10 Democratic voters Tuesday said "superdelegates" -- party leaders and elected officials who get to cast votes at the party nominating convention this summer in Denver -- should vote based on results of the primaries and caucuses rather than for the candidate they think has the best chance to win in November.Even among Sen. Hillary Clinton's voters, about half said the superdelegates should follow the results of the primaries and caucuses. Sen. Barack Obama's supporters were more likely to say so. Clinton is trailing in pledged delegates and, depending on how the remaining primaries go, it's possible her only chance for the nomination is if many superdelegates support her at the Democratic convention. | McCain and evangelicals
Four in 10 voters in the Ohio Republican primary and half of the voters in the Texas Republican primary were white, evangelical Christians, and Sen. John McCain ran close to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee among those voters. Evangelicals have been the base of support for Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister. While McCain did better than he has in the past among conservatives, he still has a problem there. Huckabee won among the most conservative voters in Texas, but McCain was able to split their votes in Ohio.
| Fretting about the economy
The economy was big in Ohio Democratic voters' minds. Six in 10 said it's the most important issue facing the country, more than said so in any of the other 25 Democratic primaries with exit polls this year. More than half of Rhode Island Democrats and nearly as many in Texas picked the economy as the top issue out of three choices. In Vermont, almost as many voters picked Iraq as the economy - the first Democratic contest this year in which Iraq was considered about as important as the economy.
As in other Democratic primaries this year, few voters Tuesday viewed the nation's economy positively. But Texas Democrats were relatively optimistic, with one in seven saying the economy is in good condition - as many as have said that in any other state.
| The trade trade-off
A whopping eight in 10 voters in Ohio's Democratic primary said international trade takes more jobs from the state than it creates. The split was closer to six in 10 in the other three states voting Tuesday.
| Worried about finances
Asked how worried they were about their family's financial situation over the next year, two-thirds of Democratic primary voters in Texas and at least seven in 10 in the other three states said they were very or somewhat worried.Ohio Democrats were most concerned, with four in 10 saying they were very worried. | Hail to the chief
One in seven Obama voters viewed Clinton as more qualified to be commander in chief; fewer than one in 20 Clinton voters said that about Obama.
| Who inspires you?
Four in 10 Clinton voters in Ohio and Texas said Obama inspires them about the future of the country. Somewhat fewer Clinton voters in Rhode Island but two-thirds in Vermont gave Obama kudos for being inspirational. Obama voters were much less likely to call Clinton inspirational -- about a quarter of them said that across the four states.
| Vermont is Obama country
Obama's strong showing in Vermont cut across numerous groups that Clinton usually wins, including whites, older people and women.Obama won the votes of 6 in 10 women, nearly two-thirds of whites, and 6 in 10 of those over 60 years old. He won the votes of two-thirds of men.
| Ohio's Democratic contest
Preliminary data from interviews with Ohio Democratic voters showed Clinton was getting the votes of two in three white women, a group that has generally supported her heavily but with whom she had slipped to thin margins recently in Virginia and Wisconsin.She also had the backing of almost six in 10 white men, a group in which Obama had forged solid advantages in recent voting.
| Democratic voters in Texas
Texas Democrats were more likely to view Clinton as better qualified to be commander in chief and said she offered clear and detailed plans to solve the country's problems. They viewed Obama as more inspirational.
| Divided by race, gender
While Obama has made significant inroads among whites and women, Clinton still won the support of her base in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island. She won among white women and older voters in those states, while Obama won his usual strong victory among blacks. White men have been a key swing group in this year's Democratic primaries. Clinton won the white men in Ohio, tied with Obama for their votes in Texas and came close in Rhode Island. Clinton won nearly two-thirds of the votes of Hispanics in Texas. Blacks were one in five voters in Ohio and Texas, while Hispanics were nearly a third of voters in Texas. One-fifth of white Ohio voters said race was an important issue to their vote, and those who did voted three in four for Clinton. That compares with the one in five Democrats in Ohio who said gender was important to their vote, and they voted six in 10 for Clinton. |
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“This is the first time that I can remember, maybe in the last 20 years, that voting in the Democratic primary, as I have, makes such a big difference in the national election,” said Robin Melvin, a voter in Austin.
Just a few weeks ago, Clinton had a strong lead in Ohio and Texas polls, and her campaign expected the states to work as bulwarks against Obama’s string of victories that gained momentum on Super Tuesday.
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Final polls going into Tuesday’s voting showed he had closed the margin significantly, but surveys of voters as they left their polling places in Ohio indicated that Clinton was winning robust support from groups that have been the foundation of her candidacy, taking strong margins among white, blue-collar and older voters.
The Ohio exit polls showed that Obama was not doing as well as he had in recent contests in eroding her support from those groups. Clinton also was doing a bit better than Obama among Ohio voters who chose their candidate in recent days, suggesting that she may have benefited from her aggressive attacks on what she called his lack of seasoning.
“I think tonight’s going to be a huge night,” said Terry McAuliffe, Clinton’s campaign chairman. “It feels very good,” he said in an interview on MSNBC. “I think we’re going to win both Texas and Ohio.”
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McCain claims GOP nomination |
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