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WASHINGTON: Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama, his
momentum building, sought Saturday to maintain his winning streak in
Wisconsin and Hawaii which hold primary contests Tuesday.
Obama stumped in the midwestern state ahead of
Tuesday’s primaries hoping to ride a wave of momentum after eight
consecutive victories in nomination contests across the country,
handing him a slight lead in delegates over his rival, Democratic
Senator Hillary Clinton, who has shaken up her campaign team.
In the Republican race, the Wisconsin contest
could bring frontrunner John McCain one step closer to the 1,191
delegates he needs to secure the party’s presidential nomination.
Obama was buoyed this week by key endorsements
from the 1.9-million strong Service Employees International Union (SEIU),
known for its political activism and deep pockets, and the 1.3
million-member United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).
Obama has 1,296 delegates so far, compared to
1,238 for Clinton, according to independent website
RealClearPolitics. At least 2,025 delegates are needed to win the
Democratic nomination at the convention in Denver in August.
With the race so tight, observers are closely
watching the role that superdelegates—influential party leaders
designated to have a say at the convention—will play in deciding
the party’s nominee.
The Washington Post reported Saturday that
Representatives John Lewis, a civil rights icon from Georgia who had
endorsed Clinton last fall, and other members of the Congressional
Black Caucus considered switching their support for Obama in their
roles as superdelegates at the Democratic National Convention.
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi
told Bloomberg TV superdelegates really should not overturn what the
people decide in the popular vote.
“I think there is a concern when the public
speaks and there is a counter-decision made to that,” she said,
adding quickly, “I don’t think that will happen… It would be a
problem for the party if the verdict would be something different
than the public has decided.”
A new poll gave the Illinois senator a
four-point lead in Wisconsin, which has 74 delegates at stake. The
state of Hawaii, which has 20 delegates, is also voting Tuesday.
Clinton, lagging behind in fundraising, is
counting on delegate-rich Ohio and Texas on March 4 to halt
Obama’s surge.
Both Democratic candidates are battling for the
workers’ vote and offering up populist themes, vowing to reverse
President George W. Bush’s tax cuts for the rich and raise the
minimum wage.
Despite similar messages, the two candidates
traded sharp words as they each try to make history as the first
black or the first female US president.
Clinton has been hammering her silver-tongued
rival hard over his platform, charging that his eloquent speeches
lack substance.
“Speeches don’t put food on the table.
Speeches don’t fill up your tank, or fill your prescription, or do
anything about that stack of bills that keeps you up at night,”
Clinton said Thursday in Ohio.
“That’s the difference between me and my
Democratic opponent. My opponent gives speeches, I offer
solutions.”
Obama dismissed Clinton’s attacks, saying it
showed she was too ingrained in Washington’s partisan politics.
“She holds up boxing gloves, you know, saying
she wants to fight,” Obama told supporters in Milwaukee. “We
don’t need more fighting,” he said. “We need some getting
together, solving some problems.”
Clinton was the only one of the leading
presidential candidates to campaign in Ohio Friday, an industrial
state with 141 delegates in play. She also deployed her husband,
former President Bill Clinton, to Texas, where 193 delegates are at
stake.
Polls out this week have given her an edge in
Ohio and Texas though her leads elsewhere have evaporated as the
Election Day approached.
For his part, McCain has taken big strides
toward becoming the Republican nominee, with 825 delegates in hand.
His former rival Mitt Romney endorsed him
Thursday and urged his 291 delegates to vote for McCain. Former
President George Bush, the father of the current president, is due
to endorse him on Monday.
Even though McCain appears to have an
insurmountable lead, ordained Baptist minister Mike Huckabee has
remained in the race, hoping to pull off a miracle with only 240
delegates on his side so far.
-- AFP
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