Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York was declared the winner of the critical Democratic presidential primary in Pennsylvania Tuesday by U.S. media.
CNN reported that with 5 percent of precincts reporting results, Clinton led rival Barrack Obama of Illinois 53 percent to 47 percent.
Fox News and other media networks also declared Clinton the winner, without giving numbers.
With 158 delegates at stake, a Pa. newspaper said that the state is "poised to become decisive in the Democratic presidential nomination."
This is the first time since 1976 that Pennsylvania will play a major role in a presidential nomination.
Latest pre-election polls of Pennsylvanians showed Clinton maintained a lead, but the margin has shrank to single digits since April.
Some facts of the primary appear to be favorable to Clinton.
Clinton may be helped by the fact that Pennsylvania conducts "closed" primaries, meaning that only registered Democrats will be allowed to vote.
Obama has benefited from the support of independent voters in previous primaries.
Clinton may also benefit from the fact that Pennsylvania has the second oldest population in the United States, behind only Florida.
Pennsylvania will also hold a Republican primary, but Sen. JohnMcCain of Arizona has already won the 1,191 delegates needed to win the GOP presidential nomination, making the Pennsylvania Republican primary a merely "beauty contest".
Source:Xinhua
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