Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign hinges on the voters who are heading to the polling stations in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont on Tuesday.
For Republican forerunner John McCain, the March 4 is not a "must-win" but possibly a "final win." With 1,047 delegates at hand, the Arizona Senator sees his time coming to win the party's presidential nominee who needs 1,191 or more delegates of the total 2,380.
The populous states of Ohio and Texas will offer 141 delegates and 193 delegates respectively to Democratic candidates on Tuesday, the prize big enough to make difference in deciding the party's presidential nominee.
With 11 straight victories in the primaries and caucuses in the past month, Illinois Senator Barack Obama has accumulated 1,378 delegates, leading New York Senator Clinton by 109 delegates, according to the CNN's statistics.
Either of them needs to gain 2,025 delegates of the total 4,049 to secure the party's presidential candidacy.
During campaign for his wife in Ohio, former President Bill Clinton told a rally if Clinton wins Ohio and Texas, she will goon to win the nomination.
CNN senior analyst Bill Schneider took a less optimistic view on this scenario, saying "if Clinton wins Texas and Ohio, it's game on until someone can figure out how to reach a majority of delegates," which may not happen until the nomination convention in late August.
"If Obama wins Texas and Ohio, it's game over," Schneider said. According to a survey by the Washington Post and ABC News, 51percent of Democrats said Clinton should drop out the race if she is trailed in Texas and Ohio.
The prospect of Democratic presidential race will become more complicated if the two candidates split Ohio and Texas, which is seen very likely from previous polls.
By combining several polls, CNN found a close tie in Texas, with Obama leading Clinton by only 2 percentage points and still 8percent of voters unsure. In Ohio, Clinton still maintains a lead of 5 to 7 percentage points.
The Washington Post-ABC News survey showed that only 29 percent of Democrats said Clinton should leave the game if she loses one of the two big states.
"If Clinton and Obama split Texas and Ohio, it's a new game," Schneider added.
One of the reasons to explain the tie in Texas is the balance between Latinos and African American voters in the state. Clinton has so far done well in Latinos population in the primary seasons and the Blacks has overwhelmingly thrown their support to Obama.
In Ohio, Clinton's lead was brewed by a large amount of blue-collar workers, Catholic, elderly and white women voters. Rhode Island, demographically similar to Ohio, is also considered Clinton's state.
But Vermont shows a different picture with many upscale and liberal voters but much less industrial worker. Obama has a lead in the state by more than 20 percentage points.
On Republican side, the only challenger to McCain, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, was trying to boost his campaign in the conservative-dominated state of Texas. However, with 247 delegates at hand, he could only delay not change McCain's prospect as the winner of the presidential nomination race.
Source:Xinhua
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