PHILADELPHIA — For the first time in six weeks, the Democratic presidential nominating contest returned to the ballot box as voters across Pennsylvania on Tuesday cast their judgment on Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.
The verdict — on a multi-front battle for the popular vote, pledged delegates and expectations — will help determine how long the primary campaign proceeds. “It is an uphill battle,” Mr. Obama said, downplaying his chances as he spoke to reporters in Pittsburgh and greeted voters during the breakfast rush. “A lot of it will depend on turnout; it is a beautiful day. We think we have the best organization on the ground, so who knows.”
Voters began arriving into polling places shortly after sunrise, with election officials predicting a record turnout in the most expensive presidential primary in state history, with one estimate of $20 million before spending escalated in the run-up to Tuesday. The campaign drew to a close with dueling television commercials about which candidate has the strength and experience to lead the country in a time of crisis, with Mrs. Clinton asking voters to take a second look at Mr. Obama’s candidacy.
“It’s not enough to say, ‘Yes we can,’ ” Mrs. Clinton said, seizing on the motto of her rival’s campaign. “We have to say how we can.”
In the final hours before the voting began, former President Bill Clinton said the Obama campaign purposefully injected race into the campaign. His comments to WHYY Radio came as he answered a question about a Philadelphia official who said she had switched her support to Mr. Obama after race became a contentious issue in South Carolina’s primary.
“I think that they played the race card on me,” Mr. Clinton said without elaboration. “We now know, from memos from the campaign that they planned to do it along.”
Asked about the charge, Mr. Obama expressed befuddlement.
“So former president Clinton dismissed my victory in South Carolina as being similar to Jesse Jackson and he is suggesting that somehow I had something to do with it?” Mr. Obama. “OK, well you better ask him what he meant by that. I have no idea what he meant.”
As both candidates conducted interviews and met with voters on Tuesday morning, their campaigns fired up their largest Election Day machines of the year. They deployed thousands of political operatives, volunteers and surrogates. Their efforts were supplemented with targeted telephone calls to homes across the state.
Mrs. Clinton was planning to hold a victory celebration in downtown Philadelphia, while Mr. Obama was scheduled to fly to Indiana as the polls close. That state, as well as North Carolina, is the next battleground in the primary fight. He is set to appear at a rally with the singer John Mellencamp.
“I have come to the conclusion that this race will continue until the last primary or caucus vote is cast,” Mr. Obama said Tuesday. “And that’s not that far away.”
With a lead in the popular vote and pledged delegates, he sought to lower his expectations. Mrs. Clinton, whose cash-strapped candidacy is on the line, said a Democrat must win big states like Pennsylvania in order to win the general election.
Outside polling station in Conshohocken, a northern suburb of Philadelphia, Mrs. Clinton was asked about the margin of victory she sought.
“A win is a win,” she replied. “My opponent is outspending me 30 to 1 maybe 4 to 1. I think a win under these circumstances is a terrific accomplishment.”
“Why can’t he close the deal?” she said about Mr. Obama’s spending advantage. “Why can’t win a state like this?” Her remarks mirrored a statement she had made earlier in the day.
“The road to Pennsylvania Avenue for a Democrat goes right through Pennsylvania,” Mrs. Clinton said in an interview on CBS’s “The Early Show.”
She dodged questions about her husband’s comments on race while trying to clarify her comment on Monday night about obliterating Iran.
“If Iran were to attack Israel with a nuclear weapon, we would retaliate,” she said Tuesday morning. “There would be a very high price to play.”
0 responses so far
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
You must log in to post a comment.