Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama carved up the nation in the 22-state nominating contest on Tuesday, leaving the Democratic presidential nomination more elusive than ever. Clinton won California, Massachusetts, New Jersey and her home state, New York, while Obama took Connecticut, Georgia, Minnesota and his base in Illinois.It was a night of drama as millions of Democrats cleaved sharply between two candidates offering them a historic first — the opportunity to nominate a woman or an African-American to lead their party’s effort to reclaim the White House. Yet it was also a night when neither Obama nor Clinton could decisively lay claim — or even secure an edge — to the nomination, assuring an electoral fight that will unfold for weeks to come.In remarks to their supporters in Manhattan and Chicago, Clinton and Obama smiled broadly, but were relatively low key in their assessments of the night, as if they knew that their state-by-state successes did not add up to the grand prize of Democratic standard-bearer. Both sounded a little tired at times, already exhausted by campaigning and fundraising, with only more of both ahead.The wild race began with the first results in Georgia, then Obama and Clinton traded victories about every 30 minutes. Preliminary vote figures in multiple states were close enough to spike adrenaline in the two camps as each sought an edge. And throughout the night, uncertainty about the biggest delegate prize, California, vexed both campaigns. Early Wednesday, however, Clinton solidified her lead there, providing a huge morale boost to her team from a state that has long been a cornerstone of successful Democratic campaigns.Missouri proved to be another story. Historically a presidential bellwether, the state was almost evenly split between the two Democrats at 1 am Wednesday, with Obama leading by half of a percentage point. Before California and Missouri were counted, an analysis by The Associated Press based on incomplete vote totals showed that Clinton had won 166 delegates and Obama had won 146 at stake on Tuesday. All told, Clinton had 479 delegates and Obama had 386. Those figures are likely to change as the vote tallies are completed and delegates are awarded under complicated rules that vary from state to state.“Tonight we are hearing the voices of people across America — people of all ages, of all colours, of all faiths, of all walks of life,” a broadly smiling Clinton told supporters in Manhattan just before 11 pm. “Tonight, in record numbers, you voted not just to make history, but to remake America.”Obama, who appeared to be building momentum in recent days, held wide leads in states like Minnesota, and ran close behind her in states like New Jersey. That left him poised to pick up a hefty number of delegates, even in some states that Clinton won. Because most states gave nominating delegates to both Clinton and Obama based on vote proportions, as opposed to winner take all, the two campaigns were predicting on Tuesday that neither candidate would have a blowout lead, setting up an intensifying race as Louisiana, Washington, Virginia, Ohio and Texas hold nominating contests over the next four weeks.A total of 1,678 pledged delegates were at stake in the 22 state contests on Tuesday, with 2,025 delegates needed to win the nomination.Among Democrats voting on Tuesday, a majority said that they were most concerned about the economy, outpacing those worried about the Iraq war or healthcare. Nine out of 10 Democratic voters said the economy was in bad shape. A majority of Democrats in most states said they believed that Clinton was best suited to be commander in chief, while Obama had a similar edge among Democrats regarding who was more likely to unite the country.For months now, the Obama and Clinton campaigns have viewed Tuesday as a decisive moment in the presidential race. When Clinton lost the first nominating contest, in Iowa, she noted that the 45 delegates at stake there were a mere fraction of the delegates at stake in the state contests on Tuesday.Obama and his aides made similar remarks after his losses in New Hampshire and Nevada, and both he and Clinton increasingly spoke of the nomination fight as a two-way battle for delegates, pure and simple.Clinton underscored this viewpoint by campaigning in California and Arizona, two states that voted on Tuesday, in the week before the South Carolina primary — signaling, in effect, that her strategy was much more focused on winning contests on Tuesday than on South Carolina.Over the last week, however, public and private opinion polls have showed tightening races in states where Clinton had held substantial leads, including Massachusetts and New Jersey and California.
