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Posted: February 19, 2008 10:37 PM
Obama Projected to Win Wis. Primary for Ninth Straight Victory
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Illinois Sen. Barack Obama was set to secure his ninth straight triumph over Sen. Hillary Clinton with a projected win in Wisconsin’s primary on Tuesday.

TV newscasts interrupted a Clinton speech in Ohio and cut to an Obama mega-rally in Houston, Texas.

“In Wisconsin, when you go to vote, it’s 5 degrees out,” Obama said, thanking the rugged Badger State voters.

Obama began his speech with instructions on how to vote early in Texas — a process that began on Tuesday ahead of that state’s much-anticipated March 4 primary.

“The change we seek is still months and miles away. We need the good people of Texas to help us get there,” Obama told a boisterous crowd.

In Wisconsin, Obama cut deeply into Clinton’s political bedrock, splitting the support of white women almost evenly with the former first lady and faring well among working class voters in the blue-collar battleground, according to polling place interviews done for the Associated Press.

The economy and trade were key issues in the race, and seven in 10 voters said international trade has resulted in lost jobs in Wisconsin. Fewer than one in five said trade has created more jobs than it has lost.

In light of criticism that his campaign needs more substance, Obama told the Texas crowd that his campaign will need more than big rallies, rousing speeches.

“The problem we face in America is not the lack of good ideas,” Obama said. “It’s that Washington has become a place where good ideas go to die because lobbyists crush them with their money and their influence.”

Obama won at least 13 delegates by carrying Wisconsin, with 61 still to be awarded, the AP reported. The Democrats also had 20 delegates at stake in Hawaii caucuses.

Clinton told a Youngstown, Ohio, rally on Tuesday night that the primary campaign “is about picking a president who relies not just on words but on work — on hard work to get America back to work.”

She told the crowd that the “best words in the world are not enough” unless they’re matched with action.

The Ohio and Texas races March 4 are the next big contests in the struggle for the Democratic presidential nomination and Clinton is pushing hard to reverse her losing streak in the contests.

According to a New York Times report the Clinton camp has opened offices in every Congressional district in Ohio. In Texas, it has opened 20 offices and enlisted 4,000 precinct captains.

Clinton and Obama are also set to meet in their first one-on-one debate since Super Tuesday on Feb. 21 in Texas — an event catching so much attention in the state that some 43,000 people registered for a chance to attend the forum, KVUE reported.