Clinton and Obama neck and neck

Democratic contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were jostling for the lead today ahead of tomorrow’s “Super Tuesday” US presidential primary contests.

And Republican frontrunner John McCain was aiming to secure his party’s nomination by squeezing main rival Mitt Romney out of the race.

Mr McCain has a substantial lead in polls on the Republican side, but the Democratic race is far from clear.

One national poll shows senators Ms Clinton and Mr Obama tied going into the Democrats’ 22 contests on Super Tuesday, while another shows Ms Clinton with a slight lead.

A poll released today even showed Mr Obama with a slight lead in California and Missouri.

The polls may vary, but they showed how Mr Obama, who would be America’s first black president, has closed in on Ms Clinton’s once-strong lead.

Yesterday, Mr Obama and Ms Clinton were courting each other’s core constituencies – black voters and women, respectively – as they rallied for an edge.

Meanwhile, Mr McCain was looking to beat Mr Romney on his home turf.

Today he is taking his campaign to Massachusetts, a state where Mr Romney served as governor, as he looked to knock out the millionaire former businessman on Super Tuesday when Republican contests are held in 21 states.

The Arizona senator looks to do well among moderate north-eastern Republicans after his victory in Florida’s primary last Tuesday led former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani to quit the race and endorse Mr McCain.

He also has backing from Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of the key state of California.

Mr Obama’s wife Michelle, TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey, and Caroline Kennedy, daughter of assassinated president John F Kennedy, led a rally in Los Angeles yesterday.

Their joint appearance targeted female Democrats who tend to favour Ms Clinton, who is seeking to become the first woman US president.

Former president Bill Clinton also spent the day in Los Angeles visiting four churches in mostly black neighbourhoods. The trip was widely seen as a bid to smooth over perceptions that he injected race into last month’s Democratic primary in South Carolina, which Mr Obama won handily.

The former president never mentioned Mr Obama by name when he spoke for about 20 minutes at the City of Refuge church in Gardena. But he struck a conciliatory tone in describing this year’s Democratic contest as “an embarrassment of riches”.

Ms Clinton spoke at the Greater Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist Church in St Louis, saying it “was a great moment” for the party and America when a woman and a black man emerged as the two remaining contenders for the Democratic nomination.