Democratic Race Will Last Past Super Tuesday: State-by-state overview

AP: Democratic Race Will Last Past Tuesday
By NEDRA PICKLER and BETH FOUHY

WASHINGTON (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are locked in a drawn-out war of attrition for the Democratic presidential nomination, sure to be fighting for delegates beyond next Tuesday no matter who comes out ahead on the primary season's biggest day. Still, it is a very big day - coast to coast and then some. Democrats will have their say in 22 states and American Samoa.

The sheer size of the Feb. 5 challenge could favor the former first lady. She is still better known than Obama and holds a lead in national polls. Obama won or came in a close second in four early states where he had extensive field operations and spent weeks in retail campaigning - an option not as available to him now as he's forced to bounce among nearly two-dozen far-flung contests.

But with a sizable bank account and lots of attention from his win in South Carolina last Saturday, Obama is prepared to go toe-to-toe with Clinton. And he benefits from party rules that award delegates according to the share of the votes each candidate receives. There's no winner-take-all on Feb. 5, and that means he could still win a substantial share of delegates even if Clinton wins most of the states.

The rivals split four contests in January. Their two-person race became official Wednesday when a third candidate, John Edwards, announced he would drop out, thus ensuring the Democratic nominee will for the first time be either a woman or a black man.

So far, Clinton has won 249 of the 2,025 delegates needed to secure the nomination, while Obama has 181. Tuesday's voting brings an avalanche of delegates - 1,681, or 83 percent of the total needed to nominate.

Here's a look at the campaign in key Feb. 5 states....

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080130/D8UGFB201.html

good. No Candidate comes out as strong.

This is why GOP seem to trying to move to a close.

saying our fight is not so bad, and that it brings in lots of people who'll probably stay active even if their candidate is not the nominee. I guess we'll watch and see how it goes -- thanks for the report!