CNN and MSNBC have both called the Republican primary for Arizona Senator John McCain but are holding off projecting a winner in the Democratic primary — but both organizations say Senator Barack Obama is ahead of Senator Hillary Clinton.
Sen. John McCain will win Wisconsin’s Republican primary, CNN projects.
As polls closed, it was too early to call the Democratic race between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Exit polls show Obama ahead.
McCain is the presumptive nominee for his party, but he must pick up 1,191 delegates to seal the nomination.
While the Arizona senator leads by a wide margin in the delegate count, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has said he intends to stay in the race.“We see the last stand only when somebody has 1,191 delegates,” Huckabee said Tuesday.
MSNBC reports that Obama so far has a “substantial lead.”
NBC News said the Democratic contest between Sen. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton was too early to call. Its analysis of data from surveys of voters as they exited polling places indicated, however, that Obama had a substantial lead in Wisconsin, which offered 74 national convention delegates and an early test of support in industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania.
And it seems as if early returns indicate Obama is continuing a trend of his: expanding his coalition by making inroads into Clinton’s traditional areas of support:
Obama, a freshman senator from Illinois, began the evening with eight straight primary and caucus victories, a run that propelled him past Clinton in the delegate race and enabled him to chip away at her advantage among elected officials within the party.
Tim Russert, NBC News’ Washington bureau chief, said exit polls indicated that Obama was able to continue making inroads into Clinton’s support among white voters and men, adding to his base among African-American and younger voters.
Obama even tied Clinton among white women, Clinton’s core group. Only white women older then 50 appeared to be sticking substantially with Clinton, Russert said.
Obama also showed his appeal to independent voters, who had a choice of parties in Wisconsin’s open primary. He won the votes of 6 in 10 self-described independents, while he tied Clinton among self-described Democrats.
These obviously aren’t the definitive returns but there is one “definite”:
The Thursday night Clinton-Obama debate won’t be a snoozer.
Clinton will have to be on the offensive from almost the first moment, to try and shake the race up – -and rattle Obama. A big loss for her in Wisconsin will be damaging in terms of momentum, imagery and fundraising.
UPDATE: Marc Ambinder:
The exit polls suggest that Obama won men by nearly 25 points and tied among women. Independents chose Obama, while Democrats were split in their choice. Obama won among those with college degrees; Clinton and Obama tied among those without college degrees. Obama won strongly among wealthier voters and the candidates split among those earning less than $50K. Late deciders went for Obama.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.