Obama, McCain Cruise Easily Past Rivals

MILWAUKEE — Illinois Sen. Barack Obama snuffed out New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's comeback bid in Wisconsin's Democratic presidential primary Tuesday with a commanding victory in an important prelude to what shapes up as a last stand for Clinton in Texas and Ohio on March 4.

"Houston, I think we've achieved lift-off here," Obama declared at a Houston rally celebrating his ninth straight win over Clinton.

On the GOP side, Arizona Sen. John McCain continued his march toward nomination — an outcome that could be sealed March 4 — by vanquishing Mike Huckabee in Wisconsin and Washington state. In a significant development, McCain split the votes from conservatives in Wisconsin, a group that never has viewed him as one of their own. Despite the split, 42 percent of GOP voters said McCain's positions are "not conservative enough."

Obama wasted no time in urging Texans to head to the polls, which opened Tuesday for early voting.

"The change we seek is still months and miles away, and we need the good people of Texas to help get us there," he said.

He also urged them to go to the caucuses that begin when the polls close March 4.

"Can everybody do that Houston?" he told cheering supporters. "Everybody going to do that?"

"Yes we can! Yes we can!" they chanted, echoing his rallying cry.

With 70 percent of precincts reporting, Obama had an impressive 15-point edge on Clinton. McCain had 54 percent of the GOP vote, easily defeating Mike Huckabee with 37 percent and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who had 5 percent.

McCain, inching closer to the 1,191 delegates he needs for nomination, declared himself the nominee and seemed to crown Obama as his November foe.

"Thank you Wisconsin for bringing us to the point where even a superstitious Naval aviator can claim with confidence and humility that I will be our party's nominee for president," McCain told supporters in Columbus, Ohio.

McCain won 13 delegates for taking the statewide vote and was poised to take a large share of the 24 delegates awarded by congressional district results. Another 19 delegates were to be awarded in Washington's Tuesday primary, although not all would necessarily be awarded to McCain.

Coming into Tuesday, McCain had 908 delegates as he moved toward the 1,191 needed for nomination. Huckabee had 245. Paul had 14. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has dropped out and urged his 280 delegates to back McCain.

Huckabee told reporters in Little Rock he will remain in the race.

"It's not about ego," he said, insisting his candidacy is about issues such as his opposition to abortion and support for a tax system overhaul.

"Clearly we were disappointed by the results in Wisconsin," Huckabee said, adding that he plans to "keep marching on."

In his victory remarks, McCain went after Obama without mentioning him by name.

"I will fight every moment of every day in this campaign to make sure Americans are not deceived by an eloquent but empty call for change that promises no more than a holiday from history and a return to the false promises and failed policies of a tired philosophy that trusts in government more than people," McCain said, warning against risking "the confused leadership of an inexperienced candidate who once suggested invading our ally, Pakistan, and sitting down without pre-conditions or clear purpose with enemies who support terrorists and are intent on destabilizing the world by acquiring nuclear weapons."

McCain ignored Clinton, whose candidacy could be one election day away from over.

Cal Jillson, a Southern Methodist University political scientist, said Texas will be "a real Alamo moment for Hillary Clinton."

"She has to win somewhere and she has got to start winning big otherwise the numbers just don't add up," he said. "She has to win both Ohio and Texas and she has to win them convincingly."

Charles Elliott, a Clinton backer and Texas A&M-Commerce political scientist, agreed she needs a big win in Texas.

"Based on what I know about Texas, that will be tough, really tough, because when you look at what the Republicans siphoned off into their party in the last 20 years, what you are left with is a pretty hard core of pretty liberal folks in the Democratic Party in Texas, particularly the ones that vote in the primary," Elliott said.

"If she is going to do badly in Wisconsin, I really can't imagine she is going to do better in Texas," he said. "She is going to have a real hard time pulling it out."

Speaking to supporters in Youngstown, Ohio, Clinton — as she has in previous losses — made no mention of Tuesday's results.

"Both Senator Obama and I would make history," she said. "But only one of us is ready on day one to be commander in chief, ready to manage our economy and ready to defeat the Republicans. Only one of us has spent 35 years being a doer, a fighter and a champion for those who need a voice."

Obama, during his rally in Houston, seemed to echo Clinton's recent criticism of him with a caution that change in Washington will take more than rousing speeches.

Change, he said, "will not happen overnight," and it will take more than policy papers and big rallies because "Washington is a place where good ideas go to die."

Exit polls showed Obama sweeping virtually every demographic group. He hoped to make it 10 in a row later Wednesday with a victory in the caucuses in Hawaii, where he was born.

In Wisconsin, where residents can vote in any primary regardless of party affiliation, Obama won independent voters by a 2-1 margin, Republicans by a slightly greater margin and Democrats, 51-48 percent.

Obama pulled in men by a wide margin, 66-32 percent; and split women, union households, high school graduates with Clinton, blue collar groups that the New York senator was counting on in Wisconsin to slow her rival's momentum and make her the country's first woman president. He also swept every income group, and won by six points among white voters, 83 points among black voters and 50 points among voters under 30.

The prize in Wisconsin was 74 pledged delegates to the Democratic Party's national convention.

Obama began the night with 1,281 delegates and Clinton with 1,218, according to The Associated Press count. It takes 2,025 to win the nomination at the party's national convention in Denver in August.

Texas has 193 delegates, Ohio 141 and Pennsylvania 158. But because the Democratic Party awards delegates based on the proportion of the vote a candidate receives, neither Obama nor Clinton are likely to reach the number needed to win the nomination.

Consequently, the appearance of political momentum, reflected in the number of states won by a candidate, is likely to become an important factor in the deliberations of the party's 796 superdelegates who hold the nomination in their hands.

The momentum Obama has achieved in recent weeks contributed to his victory Tuesday, according to exit polls. Voters who chose their candidate in the past month broke 62-37 percent for Obama.