Obama eyes Mississippi momentum

The Illinois senator is favoured to win in today’s nominating race, writes John Dunbar

BARACK OBAMA focused on Mississippi’s primary for new momentum in his tight race with Hillary Rodham Clinton, as a consensus began to emerge about two states stripped of their delegates where do-over contests could weigh heavily in the fierce Democratic White House battle.

Obama was favoured to win in Tuesday’s nominating race in Mississippi, a southern state where blacks — who have carried him to wins previously — make up a majority of the Democratic voters.

He trounced Clinton in Saturday’s Wyoming caucuses, rebounding from earlier setbacks in a win that allowed him to retain his all-important delegate lead in his quest to becoming the US’s first black president.

After a weekend break from public campaign events, both Democratic contenders were travelling in different directions on Monday.

Obama had rallies planned in Columbus and Jackson, Mississippi, as he tried to pick up the lion’s share of the 33 nominating convention delegates at stake there.

Clinton, who campaigned last week in Mississippi, planned to take part in a rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the next big battleground in the campaign.

The north-eastern state’s April 22 primary offers the biggest prize left in the nomination race: 158 delegates.

Clinton scored campaign-saving victories in Ohio and Texas last Tuesday after 11 losses to Obama. Her campaign views Pennsylvania as friendly terrain, similar to Ohio. Both are industrial states with large numbers of white working-class voters and Democratic governors who supporter Clinton.

In the overall race for the nomination, Obama leads with 1,578 delegates to Clinton’s 1,468, according to the latest tally by the Associated Press.

It will take 2,025 delegates to win the Democratic nomination at the party’s convention in late August.

It is unlikely either candidate would win enough delegates in the remaining contests to secure the nomination outright.

Instead, they would need the help of the almost 800 so-called superdelegates — party officials and elected leaders who are not bound by state contest results — to secure the nomination.

The unexpected closeness of the race has created a headache for party leaders who are trying to figure out how to give Democrats in Florida and Michigan a voice after they were stripped of their combined total of 313 delegates for holding early contests in violation of party rules.

Although Obama has more delegates than Clinton, that could be eclipsed if the former first lady were to win a large enough portion of delegates from those two large states.

Clinton won both states, but no delegates. None of the candidates actively campaigned in either state, and Obama withdrew his name from Michigan’s ballot.

Amid mounting calls from Florida and Michigan officials for new contests, a consensus began to emerge on Sunday about holding a mail-in primary.

“Every voter gets a ballot in the mail,” Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean said on CBS television’s Face the Nation. “It’s comprehensive, you get to vote if you’re in Iraq or in a nursing home. It’s not a bad way to do this.”

Cost remains a main factor in the decision, with neither national nor state party officials agreeing on who would pay for a new vote.