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Dr. Jai Maharaj
Guest
Clinton, Obama Deadlocked in Texas, Poll Shows
Race Is Close in Ohio, Showing Challenges Facing N.Y.
Senator
Video
Obama, Clinton Face Off
Barack Obama is drawing huge Texan crowds while Hillary
Clinton tries to stop his momentum. Bill Clinton says
Hillary needs wins in Texas and Ohio to be the Democratic
nominee. Jim Axelrod reports.
By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
THE WASHINGTON POST
Thursday, February 21, 2008; 5:43 PM
Austin, Feb. 21 - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, facing a
pair of big Democratic primary tests on March 4 that could
determine the fate of her presidential candidacy, is
deadlocked with Sen. Barack Obama here in Texas and holds a
slender lead over him in Ohio, according to two new
Washington Post-ABC News polls.
The closeness of the races in Texas and Ohio underscores
the challenges facing Clinton over the next 12 days of
campaigning as she seeks to end Obama's double-digit
winning streak in their battle for the Democratic
nomination. Those victories have given Obama a lead in
delegates to the national convention and have put Clinton's
candidacy at risk unless she can rack up a string of big
victories of her own.
In Ohio, Clinton leads Obama in the new poll by 50 percent
to 43 percent, a significant but tenuous advantage given
the shifts that have taken place elsewhere as candidates
intensified their campaigns in advance of previous
primaries. In Texas, the race is even, with Clinton at 48
percent and Obama at 47 percent.
In recent contests in Virginia and Wisconsin, Obama cut
into Clinton's coalition, a potentially significant change
in the Democratic race. At this point in Ohio and Texas,
Clinton is doing better than she did in those states among
her more reliable voters, but has yet to make deep inroads
into Obama's core supporters.
The Post-ABC News polls show Clinton with solid support
from white women, seniors and voters with less education
and lower incomes in both Ohio and Texas. She holds a big
lead among Hispanics in Texas. Obama has large advantages
among independents, African Americans and better-educated
voters in both states.
Clinton advisers have expressed optimism about her
prospects in the two contests, but the new polls suggest
the momentum Obama achieved in his string of victories has
turned both into true battlegrounds. Clinton's husband,
former president Bill Clinton, said this week that she must
win Texas and Ohio to keep her candidacy viable.
In Ohio, the economy and health care are battling for the
top spot on voters' agendas, while in Texas health care is
the clear number one concern, followed by the economy and
Iraq. In Ohio, the war in Iraq also comes in third place,
but far below the other two; just 9 percent of voters there
called it their most important voting issue.
Obama and Clinton supporters in both states are highly
enthusiastic about the candidates, and more than seven in
10 said they definitely will stick with the candidate they
have embraced. But that leaves a sizable number of likely
voters in both states either undecided or open to changing
their minds between now and primary day.
The Democratic electorates in the two states hold both
candidates in high regard, with more than seven in 10
saying they would be satisfied with Obama or Clinton as
their party's nominee in November. More than six in 10 said
they think either candidate could defeat Sen. John McCain,
the presumptive Republican nominee, in the general
election, although when asked who had the better chance,
Obama came out ahead in both Ohio and Texas.
Democratic voters in both states are split evenly on the
attributes they are looking for in a nominee -- a candidate
with strength and experience, which has been Clinton's
calling card, or one who offers fresh ideas and a new
direction, which embodies Obama's message.
Almost eight in 10 Democratic voters favoring strength and
experience in a candidate back Clinton, and roughly the
same proportion of those seeking change opt for Obama.
Most in both states view Clinton as the stronger leader,
but majorities in Ohio and Texas said Obama has the
experience to serve effectively as president. About four in
10 said Obama did not have the necessary resume.
Obama holds only narrow edges in both states on the
question of who would do more "to bring needed change to
Washington," and about seven in 10 said Clinton would do
enough to set a new course.
The two candidates run about evenly as the one more in
touch with "people like you," and Obama is up in both
states on electability. In Ohio and Texas, Obama has 11-
percentage-point advantages over Clinton as the Democrats'
best option to win in November.
Clinton counters with big head-to-head leads on handling
the nation's economic and health-care issues, while the two
are more closely matched on dealing with the war in Iraq
and immigration issues.
Obama campaign officials have argued that victories in
Texas and Ohio alone would not be enough to put Clinton on
a path to the nomination. Given his lead among pledged
delegates, now in the neighborhood of 150, Clinton would
need big victories to make real gains in the delegate
count, due to Democratic Party rules that award delegates
proportionally on the basis of the popular vote.
The Texas system in particular, which includes both a
primary and caucuses on the same day, may advantage Obama,
who has excelled in previous caucuses. Given the closeness
of the race, that will make it all the more difficult for
Clinton to come out of that state with a big gain in the
overall delegate battle.
But Clinton campaign officials counter that victories in
Ohio and Texas will seed doubts about Obama because he will
by then have lost the vast majority of the most populous
states that have voted. The Clinton camp hopes such doubts
will prompt the superdelegates -- members of Congress,
governors and party officials with automatic voting rights
at the convention who may hold the balance of power in the
nominating battle -- to rethink the race.
The demographic contours of the two contests provide
insights into what each candidate needs to do over the next
two weeks to win.
Clinton holds sizable leads in Ohio and Texas among white
women -- 17 percentage points here in Texas and a whopping
35 points in Ohio. But she is doing well among white men in
Ohio as well, where she leads Obama by 12 percentage points
in that group. In Texas, Obama leads among white men by 10
points. If Obama stays stuck at 40 percent among white men
in Ohio, it would be one of his worst showings among those
voters since Super Tuesday.
Seniors break for Clinton by wide margins in both states;
Obama's only win among older voters was in Virginia,
according to network exit polls.
Obama has overwhelming, roughly 4 to 1, leads among African
Americans in both states. But Clinton has solid support in
the Hispanic community in Texas, leading Obama by about 20
percentage points among a group of voters who proved
crucial in her victory in California and other Super
Tuesday states.
Clinton is seeking to hold two other core groups in her
once-strong coalition -- less-educated, downscale white
voters and self-identified Democrats. By focusing on the
economy, particularly in Ohio, she hopes to prevent the
kind of shift to Obama seen in Wisconsin on Tuesday.
The Post-ABC News polls show her with wide leads among
white voters with annual family incomes under $50,000 in
both states, and with a 16-point advantage among those from
union households in Ohio. She leads Obama by 11 points
among white voters in Texas who do not have a college
degree and by 38 points with those voters in Ohio. Obama
will need to cut into that margin in Ohio if he hopes to
overtake her there.
Independents lifted Obama to many of his early victories,
but he has also carried the support of mainline Democrats
since Super Tuesday. These new polls, however, show Clinton
leading Obama by double-digit margins among Democrats. Both
Ohio and Texas hold open primaries, in which any registered
voter may cast a ballot.
The polls were conducted by telephone Feb. 16 to 20, among
random samples of 611 Ohio adults and 603 Texas adults
likely to participate in the Democratic primaries in those
states. Sampling error margins are plus or minus four
percentage points for the full samples; error margins are
larger for subgroups.
Polling analyst Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this
report. Cohen reported from Washington.
More at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/21/AR2008022102097.html?hpid=topnews
Jai Maharaj
http://tinyurl.com/24fq83
http://www.mantra.com/jai
http://www.mantra.com/jyotish
Om Shanti
Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
DISCLAIMER AND CONDITIONS
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.
Race Is Close in Ohio, Showing Challenges Facing N.Y.
Senator
Video
Obama, Clinton Face Off
Barack Obama is drawing huge Texan crowds while Hillary
Clinton tries to stop his momentum. Bill Clinton says
Hillary needs wins in Texas and Ohio to be the Democratic
nominee. Jim Axelrod reports.
By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
THE WASHINGTON POST
Thursday, February 21, 2008; 5:43 PM
Austin, Feb. 21 - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, facing a
pair of big Democratic primary tests on March 4 that could
determine the fate of her presidential candidacy, is
deadlocked with Sen. Barack Obama here in Texas and holds a
slender lead over him in Ohio, according to two new
Washington Post-ABC News polls.
The closeness of the races in Texas and Ohio underscores
the challenges facing Clinton over the next 12 days of
campaigning as she seeks to end Obama's double-digit
winning streak in their battle for the Democratic
nomination. Those victories have given Obama a lead in
delegates to the national convention and have put Clinton's
candidacy at risk unless she can rack up a string of big
victories of her own.
In Ohio, Clinton leads Obama in the new poll by 50 percent
to 43 percent, a significant but tenuous advantage given
the shifts that have taken place elsewhere as candidates
intensified their campaigns in advance of previous
primaries. In Texas, the race is even, with Clinton at 48
percent and Obama at 47 percent.
In recent contests in Virginia and Wisconsin, Obama cut
into Clinton's coalition, a potentially significant change
in the Democratic race. At this point in Ohio and Texas,
Clinton is doing better than she did in those states among
her more reliable voters, but has yet to make deep inroads
into Obama's core supporters.
The Post-ABC News polls show Clinton with solid support
from white women, seniors and voters with less education
and lower incomes in both Ohio and Texas. She holds a big
lead among Hispanics in Texas. Obama has large advantages
among independents, African Americans and better-educated
voters in both states.
Clinton advisers have expressed optimism about her
prospects in the two contests, but the new polls suggest
the momentum Obama achieved in his string of victories has
turned both into true battlegrounds. Clinton's husband,
former president Bill Clinton, said this week that she must
win Texas and Ohio to keep her candidacy viable.
In Ohio, the economy and health care are battling for the
top spot on voters' agendas, while in Texas health care is
the clear number one concern, followed by the economy and
Iraq. In Ohio, the war in Iraq also comes in third place,
but far below the other two; just 9 percent of voters there
called it their most important voting issue.
Obama and Clinton supporters in both states are highly
enthusiastic about the candidates, and more than seven in
10 said they definitely will stick with the candidate they
have embraced. But that leaves a sizable number of likely
voters in both states either undecided or open to changing
their minds between now and primary day.
The Democratic electorates in the two states hold both
candidates in high regard, with more than seven in 10
saying they would be satisfied with Obama or Clinton as
their party's nominee in November. More than six in 10 said
they think either candidate could defeat Sen. John McCain,
the presumptive Republican nominee, in the general
election, although when asked who had the better chance,
Obama came out ahead in both Ohio and Texas.
Democratic voters in both states are split evenly on the
attributes they are looking for in a nominee -- a candidate
with strength and experience, which has been Clinton's
calling card, or one who offers fresh ideas and a new
direction, which embodies Obama's message.
Almost eight in 10 Democratic voters favoring strength and
experience in a candidate back Clinton, and roughly the
same proportion of those seeking change opt for Obama.
Most in both states view Clinton as the stronger leader,
but majorities in Ohio and Texas said Obama has the
experience to serve effectively as president. About four in
10 said Obama did not have the necessary resume.
Obama holds only narrow edges in both states on the
question of who would do more "to bring needed change to
Washington," and about seven in 10 said Clinton would do
enough to set a new course.
The two candidates run about evenly as the one more in
touch with "people like you," and Obama is up in both
states on electability. In Ohio and Texas, Obama has 11-
percentage-point advantages over Clinton as the Democrats'
best option to win in November.
Clinton counters with big head-to-head leads on handling
the nation's economic and health-care issues, while the two
are more closely matched on dealing with the war in Iraq
and immigration issues.
Obama campaign officials have argued that victories in
Texas and Ohio alone would not be enough to put Clinton on
a path to the nomination. Given his lead among pledged
delegates, now in the neighborhood of 150, Clinton would
need big victories to make real gains in the delegate
count, due to Democratic Party rules that award delegates
proportionally on the basis of the popular vote.
The Texas system in particular, which includes both a
primary and caucuses on the same day, may advantage Obama,
who has excelled in previous caucuses. Given the closeness
of the race, that will make it all the more difficult for
Clinton to come out of that state with a big gain in the
overall delegate battle.
But Clinton campaign officials counter that victories in
Ohio and Texas will seed doubts about Obama because he will
by then have lost the vast majority of the most populous
states that have voted. The Clinton camp hopes such doubts
will prompt the superdelegates -- members of Congress,
governors and party officials with automatic voting rights
at the convention who may hold the balance of power in the
nominating battle -- to rethink the race.
The demographic contours of the two contests provide
insights into what each candidate needs to do over the next
two weeks to win.
Clinton holds sizable leads in Ohio and Texas among white
women -- 17 percentage points here in Texas and a whopping
35 points in Ohio. But she is doing well among white men in
Ohio as well, where she leads Obama by 12 percentage points
in that group. In Texas, Obama leads among white men by 10
points. If Obama stays stuck at 40 percent among white men
in Ohio, it would be one of his worst showings among those
voters since Super Tuesday.
Seniors break for Clinton by wide margins in both states;
Obama's only win among older voters was in Virginia,
according to network exit polls.
Obama has overwhelming, roughly 4 to 1, leads among African
Americans in both states. But Clinton has solid support in
the Hispanic community in Texas, leading Obama by about 20
percentage points among a group of voters who proved
crucial in her victory in California and other Super
Tuesday states.
Clinton is seeking to hold two other core groups in her
once-strong coalition -- less-educated, downscale white
voters and self-identified Democrats. By focusing on the
economy, particularly in Ohio, she hopes to prevent the
kind of shift to Obama seen in Wisconsin on Tuesday.
The Post-ABC News polls show her with wide leads among
white voters with annual family incomes under $50,000 in
both states, and with a 16-point advantage among those from
union households in Ohio. She leads Obama by 11 points
among white voters in Texas who do not have a college
degree and by 38 points with those voters in Ohio. Obama
will need to cut into that margin in Ohio if he hopes to
overtake her there.
Independents lifted Obama to many of his early victories,
but he has also carried the support of mainline Democrats
since Super Tuesday. These new polls, however, show Clinton
leading Obama by double-digit margins among Democrats. Both
Ohio and Texas hold open primaries, in which any registered
voter may cast a ballot.
The polls were conducted by telephone Feb. 16 to 20, among
random samples of 611 Ohio adults and 603 Texas adults
likely to participate in the Democratic primaries in those
states. Sampling error margins are plus or minus four
percentage points for the full samples; error margins are
larger for subgroups.
Polling analyst Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this
report. Cohen reported from Washington.
More at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/21/AR2008022102097.html?hpid=topnews
Jai Maharaj
http://tinyurl.com/24fq83
http://www.mantra.com/jai
http://www.mantra.com/jyotish
Om Shanti
Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
DISCLAIMER AND CONDITIONS
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.