Barack Obama favourite to sweet 'Potomac primaries'

Barack Obama meeting supporters in Baltimore.

By Stephen Collinson
February 12, 2008 04:42pm

Obama swept last four, favoured in next three
Clinton focusing on bigger prizes later on

DEMOCRAT Barack Obama is on track to continue his hot streak of primary and caucus wins into the next round of presidential contests, but rival Hillary Clinton has come out swinging in a bid to rob him of momentum.
Senator Obama is favoured over senator Clinton in contests on Wednesday (Australian time) in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, the latest battlegrounds in a tight back-and-forth struggle between the two candidates for the Democratic nomination in November's election.
At stake in Tuesday's voting are 168 pledged delegates to August's nominating convention.
The two contenders crisscrossed the area around the US capital on Tuesday, hunting for support in a presidential race where momentum has been difficult to sustain.
Senator Obama swept four contests over the weekend in the states of Maine, Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington, extending a slight lead in the battle for pledged delegates who select the nominee.
The Illinois senator now has 943 pledged delegates to Clinton's 895, according to a count by MSNBC - well short of the 2025 needed to clinch the Democratic nomination.
Senator Clinton shook up her campaign staff after losing all the weekend contests, replacing campaign manager Patty Solis Doyle with longtime aide Maggie Williams. But she voiced confidence about her campaign's future.
"If you look at the states that are upcoming I'm very confident," senator Clinton said in Maryland. "This is an ongoing contest and I feel very good about it."
But senator Clinton already was looking past the three contests on Wednesday and next week's battles in Wisconsin and Hawaii - all of which favour senator Obama - to focus instead on crucial March 4 contests in the big states of Texas and Ohio.
"I am absolutely looking to Ohio and Texas because we know that those are states where they represent the broad electorate in this country," she said. "They represent the kind of voters that will have to be convinced and won over in the general election."
The two candidates agreed to another one-on-one debate in Austin, Texas, on February 21, two days after the Wisconsin and Hawaii contests. They also will meet in a Cleveland, Ohio, debate on February 26.
Senator Clinton said she had the best chance of beating Republican front-runner John McCain, an Arizona senator who has all but clinched the nomination but lost two of three contests over the weekend to former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.
"We have to start imagining right now what it will take for our nominee to go toe-to-toe with John McCain on national security, on defence, on homeland security," she said. "I feel totally comfortable standing up there with John McCain."
Senator McCain still faces opposition in his own party from conservatives unhappy with his views on immigration and other issues. But he has won more than 700 of the 1191 delegates needed for nomination - an overwhelming lead on Mr Huckabee, who has barely more than 200.
"I never expected a unanimous vote although I certainly would like to have that. But I think we will continue to win primaries across the country, including tomorrow. I have great confidence that we will," senator McCain said in Annapolis, Maryland.