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MADISON, Wisconsin: Surging Barack Obama hammered
White House foe Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin’s primary Tuesday,
racking up his ninth win in a row in the bitter Democratic White
House race.
Presumptive Republican nominee
John McCain, meanwhile, fired a preemptive strike on his
increasingly likely Democratic general election foe, ripping
Obama’s “eloquent but empty” rhetoric, after his own easy win
in the Midwestern state.
Obama’s victory cemented his
frontrunner status, and left Clinton needing an astonishing
turnaround in must-win contests in her firewall states of Ohio and
Texas on March 4 to keep her fading presidential hopes alive.
“I think we’ve achieved
liftoff here,” said Obama, as he addressed a delirious rally in
Houston, Texas, which hosts NASA’s mission control for US space
missions, as he set a rhetorical course for the November 4
presidential vote.
“The change we seek is still
months and miles away,” he said.
Though Obama and Clinton had been
tightly matched going into the primary, which had 74 delegates on
offer, he swept to a comprehensive win. With 97 percent of precincts
reporting, Obama led 58 percent to 41 percent.
Way to the west in the Pacific,
Obama, vying to make history as America’s first black president,
was also favored to capture his native Hawaii, which held its
caucuses Tuesday, which has 20 delegates on offer.
Clinton, stung by another
grievous blow to her hopes of becoming America’s history-making
first woman president, pleaded with voters to pause to consider who
was truly qualified to lead the country.
“Both Senator Obama and I would
make history. But only one of us is ready on day one to be commander
in chief, ready to manage our economy, and ready to defeat the
Republicans.
“That is the choice in this
election.”
Arizona Senator McCain, 71, edged
even closer to mathematical certainty of grasping the Republican
nomination, handily beating his pesky Republican rival Mike Huckabee
in Wisconsin.
McCain also swept Washington
state’s primary, after winning the first part of its two-step
nominating process, a caucus, 10 days earlier.
The Vietnam war hero struck an
immediate contrast with Obama, 46, trying to leverage the campaign
onto national security territory where McCain draws strong support.
“Thank you, Wisconsin, for
bringing us to the point where even a superstitious navy aviator can
claim with confidence and humility that I will be our party’s
nominee for president of the United States,” McCain said in a
victory rally in Columbus, Ohio.
Turning to Obama, he rapped an
“eloquent, but empty, call for change that promises no more than a
holiday from history and a return to the false promises and failed
policies of a tired philosophy.”
“Will we risk the confused
leadership of an inexperienced candidate who once suggested bombing
our ally, Pakistan?” he said, referring to Obama’s threat to
strike at al-Qaeda without Islamabad’s permission if necessary.
McCain also hit out at Obama for
suggesting talks without preconditions with US foes like Iran and
North Korea.
But in his own victory speech,
Obama was unrepentant, saying America should not be afraid to talk
to its enemies.
Obama now leads Clinton by 1,342
to 1,265 delegates, according to independent political website
RealClearPolitics.com.
Neither candidate is likely to
reach the winning line of 2,025 delegates, which has led to
speculation of a convention brawl when the Democrats select their
White House nominee in August.
McCain has amassed a total of 877
delegates, of the 1,191 needed for the Republican nomination. His
former rival, Mitt Romney, endorsed McCain on February 15 and urged
his 271 delegates to do the same.
--AFP
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