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Clinton battles for Wisconsin
19/02/2008 07:25 - (SA)
Madison, Wisconsin - White House hopeful Hillary Clinton mounted a final offensive to win Wisconsin's delegates on Monday as she appeared to be losing ground to rival Barack Obama in the next key Democratic nomination contest: Texas.
On the Republican side, runaway front-runner John McCain won the endorsement of former president George H Bush, a new backer who could help the maverick senator court conservatives suspicious of where his loyalties lie.
The Democratic rivals fired off a slew of combative television advertisements in a tough fight for Wisconsin's 74 nominating delegates.
A win in Tuesday's Wisconsin primary could give Clinton's faltering campaign a much-needed shot in the arm ahead of a major showdown on March 4 in Ohio and Texas which offer a total of 334 delegates.
Lead in Texas narrowing
Clinton had been ahead by double digits in both states, but a poll released on Monday by CNN showed the race in Texas has narrowed to just two points, well within the margin of error.
Clinton is trailing Obama 1 235 to 1 302 delegates after he won eight straight primaries and caucuses since the Super Tuesday slew of votes failed to give either candidate a decisive lead, according to independent poll-tracker RealClearPolitics.com.
At least 2 025 delegates are needed to win the Democratic nomination.
The Illinois senator could make it 10 in a row on Tuesday by capturing Wisconsin and the caucuses in Hawaii, the Pacific island state where he was born and which is holding caucuses on the same day.
Close race
Both camps acknowledged on Monday that the Wisconsin primary would be a close race.
"We expect tomorrow will be competitive," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe told reporters.
The Clinton campaign was similarly cautious.
"Obviously we're doing the best we can to do the best we can," her communications director, Howard Wolfson, told reporters.
"We feel very good about Ohio and Texas which are the next big contests."
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