With the Democrats fighting to an apparent standoff on Super Tuesday, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton rushed to the Washington area to slug it out in the Battle of the Potomac, the next important round in a struggle that could continue through the spring and even to the summer convention.
“The contest will continue,” Obama vowed Tuesday. “We’re going to probably see a split decision tonight and then we’re going to have time over the next month, month and a half, to continue the campaign.”
Clinton agreed, despite the fact that her campaign bragged just weeks ago that it would wrap up the nomination on Super Tuesday.
“There is going to be a very contested race for the nomination,” she said on NBC. “And I actually think that’s good news, because the more people are involved and the more they’re really focusing on the issues, the better it is for Democrats.”
With Democrats and Republicans casting ballots in a total of 24 states from coast to coast, early returns last night showed Obama winning Illinois, Connecticut, Minnesota, Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Utah, Delaware and North Dakota. Clinton won Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
On the Republican side, John McCain picked up the lion’s share of delegates, winning such states as Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, New York, New Jersey and Oklahoma. Mike Huckabee ran surprisingly well, capturing Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas and West Virginia, while Mitt Romney took Massachusetts and Utah.
Although McCain’s once moribund campaign has been surging for weeks, he was cautious heading into Super Tuesday.
“I’m optimistic, but we got a ways to go,” he told NBC. “This could be a long night. California is tightening up.”
With results not expected until quite late from California, the biggest prize of all, candidates settled in for a long night of awaiting returns and calculating their most plausible paths forward.
“I’m not going to drop out if there’s a pathway to getting this nomination,” Romney told MSNBC.
The next big primary day is Tuesday, the Battle of the Potomac, when voters in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., go to the polls to award 237 delegates to Democrats and 119 to Republicans. That means greater Washington residents could have a major impact on the race in advance of March 4, when an even larger number of delegates are at stake in Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island.
Obama will be well funded in the Battle of the Potomac, having raised a whopping $32 million last month, compared to just over $13 million for Clinton. Turnout is expected to be high.
Republicans will also be heading to the Potomac region in the coming days for the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meeting in Washington. Attendees will hear speeches tomorrow from Romney, who attended last year’s gathering, and McCain, who skipped the 2007 event. Huckabee will address the CPAC on Saturday.
