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 News from Around the Americas | March 2008 
Obama Wins Mississippi Primary
 Michael Luo & Jeff Zeleny - New York Times
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| | Sen. Barack Obama in Tuesday's Mississippi Democratic primary posted his second strong win since March 4, extending his lead in states won to 27-16 over his only remaining rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP) | | |
Senator Barack Obama beat Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday in Mississippi's Democratic primary, the final contest before what promises to be a crucial showdown in Pennsylvania in six weeks.
This would be Mr. Obama's second straight victory - he won the Wyoming caucuses over the weekend - enabling him to rebound from a trio of popular vote losses to Mrs. Clinton in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island.
Mr. Obama's lead in Mississippi was built on a wave of support among blacks, who made up half those who turned out to vote Tuesday, according to surveys conducted by the television networks and The Associated Press of voters leaving polling places. The surveys found that roughly 90 percent of black voters supported Mr. Obama, but only a third of white voters supported him, suggesting a racially polarized electorate in the state.
"It's just another win in our column and we are getting more delegates," Mr. Obama said in an interview on CNN from Chicago, where he arrived Tuesday evening after spending the day campaigning in Mississippi and Pennsylvania. "I am grateful to the people of Mississippi for the wonderful support. Wat we've tried to do is steadily make sure that in each state we are making the case about the need for change in this country."
The stage is now set for Pennsylvania on April 22, which opens the final stage of the Democratic nominating fight, with nine other states and territories left to weigh in before the convention in late August.
Mr. Obama had been expected to win resoundingly in Mississippi, a state where 36 percent of the population is black, the highest percentage in the nation. Mr. Obama has enjoyed overwhelming support among black voters and won all the other contests in the Deep South by large margins.
While Mrs. Clinton stumped in the state last week and former President Bill Clinton dropped in over the weekend, the Clinton campaign had mostly been looking ahead to Pennsylvania, with its 158 delegates at stake.
Indeed, Mrs. Clinton has not been in Mississippi since Friday, and she was campaigning Tuesday in Pennsylvania, while Mr. Obama started Tuesday in Mississippi but went to Pennsylvania as well.
Mr. Obama stopped in at a diner in Greenville, Miss., on Tuesday morning, an hour after polls opened in the state, putting in a final appeal to voters and ordering a breakfast of hard-scrambled eggs, turkey sausage, wheat toast and grits.
"I promise when I'm president of the United States, I'll come back to the Delta," he said. "You all keep me in your prayers now."
It is unclear how much difference the late campaigning had. The early surveys of voters, conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International, showed that 6 out of 10 Democratic primary voters made up their minds more than a month ago.
Mrs. Clinton was in Harrisburg, Pa., on Tuesday where she addressed more than 2,000 people inside an auditorium downtown and continued to aggressively take on Mr. Obama, accusing him of flip-flopping on energy policy, Iraq and the North American Free Trade Agreement.
But much of the sparring between the two campaigns on Tuesday came over remarks made by a Clinton supporter, Geraldine Ferraro, the Democrats' vice presidential nominee in 1984, that were published last Friday in The Daily Breeze of Torrance, Calif. In her comments, Ms. Ferraro accused the media of being sexist and said, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position."
Mrs. Clinton disavowed the comments on Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press in Harrisburg.
"I do not agree with that," she said. "It is regrettable that any of our supporters on both sides, because we've both had that experience, say things that kind of veer off into the personal."
Mr. Obama told The Morning Call of Allentown, Pa., that the comments were "divisive" and "patently absurd."
Mr. Obama entered Tuesday's contest with 1,510.5 delegates, compared to 1,403 for Mrs. Clinton, according to a projection by The New York Times. That differential will not change significantly after Mississippi, with only 33 delegates at stake and Mrs. Clinton expected to scoop up a good number because they are awarded proportionally.
Mississippi's primary is open, so voters can choose which primary to vote in.
Voting was steady throughout the day and up to 150,000 people were expected to show up at the polls, said Pamela Weaver, a spokeswoman for the Mississippi secretary of state.
Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, won the primary for his party, bringing him even closer by The New York Times's count to the number of delegates needed to officially clinch the nomination.
In the closing days of the primary race, Mrs. Clinton had been raising the idea that Democrats struggling to decide between the candidates could have it both ways, implying that Mr. Obama would make a suitable running mate. Mr. Obama aggressively rejected that idea as he campaigned in Mississippi on Monday, telling voters: "With all due respect, I've won twice as many states as Senator Clinton."
Still, according to preliminary surveys of voters leaving the polls, not all voters seemed eager to rule out the notion. Six in 10 Obama supporters said that he should select Mrs. Clinton for vice president if he ultimately wins the nominating fight. And 4 in 10 Clinton voters said she should choose Mr. Obama if he she is victorious.
Anita Nichols, who came to see Mr. Obama on the eve of the primary at Mississippi University for Women in Columbus, said she was delighted that voters in her state had an opportunity to be heard in the Democratic presidential contest. She said she hoped a convincing Mississippi victory would nudge him along in the protracted fight.
"I'm praying that he wins. I really am," Ms. Nichols said in an interview, an Obama button fastened to her lapel. "This country is ready for change, but it's not just him. The president can only do so much, he's got to surround himself with qualified people and the citizens have to work, too."
Jeff Zeleny reported from Mississippi and Katharine Q. Seelye from Harrisburg, Pa. |
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