Democrats Entrench Themselves While McCain Fights for Conservative Votes
WASHINGTON _ Democrats settled in for a long-haul delegate hunt after Super Tuesday while Republican John McCain approached a challenge that could be almost as daunting _ appealing to hard-right conservatives who continue to reject his candidacy.
After dividing delegates nearly evenly in 22 states on Tuesday, the campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton predicted that their race would extend through the Ohio and Texas primaries on March 4 and perhaps beyond the last big-state contest, in Pennsylvania on April 22.
Clinton, whose successes Tuesday included victories in California and New York, disclosed Wednesday that she loaned her campaign $5 million last month, suggesting that Obama’s recent fund-raising successes could prove to be an advantage in a protracted contest.
“My opponent was able to raise more money, and we intended to be competitive, and we were, and I think the results last night proved the wisdom of my investment,” Clinton said, speaking at her campaign office in northern Virginia Wednesday.
Clinton, a New York senator, has made millions of dollars from her book “Living History,” and former President Bill Clinton has become wealthy since leaving office in 2001 by writing a book, making speeches and entering other business ventures.
Obama, speaking in Chicago, characterized his race with Clinton as “a fierce competition, and we have many more rounds to fight.”
The Illinois senator, who won the popular vote in Missouri, Illinois and 11 other states on Tuesday, appeared in position to assume the advantage in the race with a calendar that favors him in coming days.
Three of the four states that will choose delegates next weekend _ Washington, Nebraska and Maine _ are caucuses, and Obama thus far has won seven of eight caucus states. Obama also is favored in the Louisiana primary on Saturday after defeating Clinton in every southern state up to now where the two have campaigned.
On Tuesday, Obama also could be hard to beat in primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia due to large African-American populations and key endorsements.
“Here in Virginia, I would think that (Gov.) Tim Kaine would play a role much like Claire McCaskill in Missouri in pulling Obama over the top,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
Meanwhile, McCain, who swept big states from New York to California on Tuesday, started trying to repair the splintered Republican Party he appears certain now to lead in November.
Speaking in Phoenix, McCain spoke of his conservative record as a senator and said he hoped that “at some point we would just calm down a little bit and see if there’s areas we can agree on.”
McCain also began working on one of his most important speeches of the primary season, in Washington Thursday in front of some nation’s most influential right-leaning activists gathered for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.
Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Rep. Ron Paul, GOP hopefuls close to becoming also-rans, also planned to be on hand.
Donald Devine, vice-chairman of the American Conservative Union, a sponsor of the event, suggested in an interview that McCain’s speech could be a hard sell.
“His real problem is with conservative leaders,” Devine said. “I would think that most self-identified conservatives would vote for him in November. But that assumes that their leaders don’t do anything rash. He may be able to say something to calm them down but I’m not sure what it is.”
With McCain having piled up nearly 60 percent of the 1,191 GOP delegates needed for nomination, the chances that he could be overtaken appeared slim.
Nonetheless, Romney’s campaign put out its candidate’s schedule saying that he also plans to make a speech in Baltimore Thursday, suggesting that he plans to compete in the Maryland primary. But the primary Saturday in Louisiana along with a GOP caucus in the red state of Kansas looked more favorable for Huckabee, who bested expectations on Tuesday by winning five southern states.
Conservatives leaders were hoping that continued strong showings by Huckabee might prompt McCain to choose him as his running mate for the November election, but Huckabee asserted Wednesday that he still had designs on the presidency.
Meanwhile, the Democratic fight for delegates looked to have no obvious end on the horizon and some Democrats suggested that the contest might not be decided until the party nominating convention in August.
Democratic pollster Mark Mellman said the contest could continue to be healthy for the Democratic Party, which has been breaking primary turnout records and fundraising hauls due to broad interest in the contest.
“As long as our race is interesting, that’s where the focus of attention would be. The good news is that both these candidates are making a very positive impact on people,” said Mellman, who is unaligned in the race.
Richard Brody, a professor emeritus at Stanford University and longtime election analyst, said the time might arrive when voters grow weary of the fight, which almost certainly will include hard-edged campaigning and negative ads.
“What we don’t know is whether that’s going to polarize the electorate in some funny kind of way and how independents will react,” he said.
Analysts pointed to the important role played by “super-delegates”€” the 796 officials, Democratic National Committee members and party officials who are not bound by voters’ wishes and the potential that many of them might be persuaded to swing their support to either Clinton or Obama if one of the two pulls significantly ahead.
The close race puts a premium on super-delegates and campaigns have signaled that the drive for their support will be pitched.
Obama acknowledged as much Tuesday, when he said if he wins more delegates in voting than Clinton, the super-delegates “would have to think long and hard about how they approach the nomination when the people they claim to represent have said, `Obama’s our guy,”` he said.
The squishy status of unpledged delegates is one reason that delegate totals vary widely, depending on who’s counting them.
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