ISSN: 1391 - 0531
Sunday February 10, 2008
Vol. 42 - No 37
International  

Dems deadlocked

Clinton and Obama appeal to women as they seek support in latest contests

WASHINGTON, Saturday (AP) - Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama vied for the support of women voters as they faced off for electoral contests Saturday, after nationwide races this week failed to anoint either candidate as the front-runner for the presidential nomination.

Republican presidential hopeful, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., talks with reporters on his campaign plane enroute from Kansas to Seattle, while one of his Democratic rivals, Sen. Barack Obama, D- Ill., is seen on an in flight TV screen Friday, Feb. 8, 2008. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Republicans John McCain and Mike Huckabee hunted for delegates in three state contests today, keeping a vigorous pace despite the sense that the Republican race is essentially over, with McCain firmly on the road to the nomination.

Clinton and Obama split wins during Tuesday's series of nomination contests in 22 states, a deadlock that promised to transform this already historic race between a woman and a black man into a fight that will last until the party's convention in August.The two Democrats face four contests today, with the three most important ones -- Washington state, Nebraska and Louisiana -- offering a total of 161 delegates or about 10 percent of the total needed to win the party's nomination. Of those three races, Washington and Nebraska are caucuses, contests that have served Obama well in the past.

Clinton and Obama both campaigned Thursday and Friday in the northwestern state of Washington, the richest weekend prize, with 78 delegates. No state better illustrates the competition for women voters than Washington. The governor and both U.S. senators are Democratic women. Clinton scored first, winning the endorsements of Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, two women from different political backgrounds.

The former first lady has outpolled Obama among women so far, but Obama has fought hard, and Friday he had his own coup -- the endorsement of Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, only the second female governor of the state. Both candidates had courted her -- Obama speaking with her four times.

''He is leading us toward a positive feeling of hope in our country and I love seeing that happen,'' Gregoire said. Washington's senators, both women, back Clinton. Cantwell introduced the New York senator to a crowd in Spokane on Friday. ''Hillary is here to listen, to answer questions and to make history, and Washington state is here to help her do that,'' Cantwell said. At the Obama rally, Lisa Jones, 32, said she likes his fresh face and approach. ''I feel about him the way I did about Bill Clinton in 1992,'' she said. ''I like Hillary, but she doesn't make my heart skip like Obama.''

The difference could be generational. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran a front-page story Friday headlined: ''Among women, contest is one for the ages.'' It described many Seattle-area Democratic women splitting largely along generational lines, with most older women backing Clinton, 60, and many younger ones opting for Obama, 46.

On the Republican side, McCain was seeking to heal divisions with his party's right-wing base by casting himself as America's steadfast protector against terrorism. He suggested Friday that a vote for Clinton or Obama would ultimately encourage terrorists..

 
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