Posted: March 5, 2008 1:42 AM
Clinton Caps Big Night with Win in Texas Primary
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Sen. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has won the Texas primary, edging Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., with 51 percent of the vote and 68 percent of precincts reporting, according to the Associated Press and major media projections.
Obama, who won Tuesday’s vote in Vermont, was holding a lead in the Texas caucus, which determines one-third of the delegate allocation in the state’s two-part nomination contest. Clinton, however, was able to cap impressive wins in Ohio and Rhode Island with the Lone Star state primary victory.
“We’re going on, we’re going strong, and we’re going all the way,” Clinton told supporters in Columbus, Ohio, before the result in Texas was known. “We’re just getting started.” Turnout was expected to set a new Texas record, according to the AP. Secretary of State Phil Wilson projected 26 percent of the state’s 12.7 million registered voters in Texas cast ballots. Up for grabs in Texas were 193 delegates.
The primary Texas was open to all voters, and Republicans and independents voting in the Democratic primary split about evenly between Clinton and Obama, according to exit polling conducted for the AP. Hispanics, a group that has favored Clinton in earlier primaries, cast nearly one-third of the votes, while African-Americans, who have voted heavily for Obama this year, accounted for roughly 20 percent of the votes.
“This has the air of a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Democratic precinct chair Bob Ackerman in Dallas told the AP. “All of a sudden, we matter after having been forgotten so long as Democrats in George Bush’s home state.”
Despite Obama’s loss, he still has the lead in the crucial race for Democratic delegates.
“No matter what happens tonight we have nearly the same delegate lead as we did this morning and we are on our way to winning this nomination,” Obama told supporters earlier in the evening in San Antonio.
Indeed, the race now moves on to Wyoming on Saturday, Mississippi on Tuesday and Pennsylvania on April 22.
-- By , NewsHour with Jim Lehrer | Comments | Link
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Obama should win delegate count in Texas.
It is a bit of a disappointment that Clinton managed to win the Ohio and Texas primaries by negative campaigning to undermine the strengths of Obama, instead of the value her candidacy may bring to the country. This is George Bush's game, to win by dividing people and consequently dividing the country.
senator clinton did NOT win in texas as everyone seems to be reporting....the caucus votes have not been tallied and after 40+% reporting, sen. obama is in the lead...once again the clintons are trying to take something that they haven't earned. i am so over the so-called clinton machine...they will do anything to claim a victory.