Democrats in Wisconsin and Hawaii make their choices on Tuesday in a heated presidential battle, with Hillary Clinton hoping to snap Barack Obama's winning streak ahead of big contests in March.
Public opinion polls show Obama and Clinton in a tight race in Wisconsin, where Obama aims to extend his string of eight straight victories in Democratic nominating contests. Obama, a Hawaii native, is a heavy favourite in that state.
Up for grabs in the two states are a combined 94 delegates to the August convention that selects the Democratic presidential nominee in November's election. Obama has a slight lead in pledged delegates won in state presidential contests.
Obama said on NBC's "Today" show he was confident about his chances in Wisconsin. "We feel good about the campaigning we've done there. But you never take it for granted. Remember New Hampshire," Obama said, referring to his surprise loss to Clinton just five days after a breakthrough win in Iowa.
Turnout was heavy in some locations despite sub-freezing temperatures in Wisconsin, where voting ends at 8 pm CST (9 pm EST/0200 GMT on Wednesday). Democrats open their caucuses for presidential preference voting in Hawaii at 7 pm HST (midnight EST/0500 GMT on Wednesday).
Republicans also hold a primary in Wisconsin, with front-runner John McCain looking to continue his march to the nomination. McCain, an Arizona senator, has a huge and essentially insurmountable lead in delegates over his last remaining major rival, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
"My friends we want to win today," McCain told a rally of about 150 supporters in Milwaukee. "With your help today we will take another step." In the Democratic race, Obama and Clinton already have turned their attention to March 4 contests in two of the biggest states, Ohio and Texas, which have a rich lode of 334 convention delegates at stake. Clinton is the early favourite in both, although one public opinion poll in Texas on Monday showed the race in a statistical dead heat. Clinton headed to Ohio on Monday night. Obama travelled to Texas on Tuesday.
The pair's hard-fought nominating duel featured a sharp exchange on Monday over Obama's uncredited use of speech lines from a friend and ally, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. Obama said he should have credited Patrick but dismissed the controversy as no big deal. But Clinton said the incident cast doubt on the authenticity of Obama's rhetoric - one of the Illinois senator's biggest selling points. "If your whole candidacy is about words, they should be your own words. That's what I think," Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, told reporters late on Monday.
At a campaign appearance in Parma, Ohio, on Tuesday, Clinton kept up her argument that she offered real solutions while Obama offered rhetoric. "That's what this election should really be about. It shouldn't be about speeches, it should be about solutions," Clinton said. Public opinion polls offered mixed results ahead of the Wisconsin vote, with most showing a slight lead for Obama. Both camps tried to lower expectations.
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe noted Wisconsin has a large population of the blue collar workers and rural voters who have been a big part of Clinton's constituency, and few of the black voters who have overwhelmingly supported Obama. The primary also is an open contest allowing participation by Republicans and independents, not the small, closed caucus states where Obama has performed well.
"By their own definition, this should be very friendly terrain for them," Plouffe told reporters. "We think this is going to be a real competitive contest." Republicans in Washington state also hold a primary, which is the second half of their two-tiered nominating contest. The state's Republicans held a caucus on February 9, won narrowly by McCain. The voting ends for Washington Republicans at 8 pm PST (11 pm EST/0400 GMT on Wednesday).
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