Optimism that Barack Obama would make a dramatic breakthrough on Super Tuesday faded quickly as Hillary Clinton won the big prizes, writes Denis Stauntonin Washington
Democratic vote
At the Democratic National Committee club near Capitol Hill on Tuesday night, nobody was carrying signs for either of the candidates but it was easy to identify which table was supporting whom. As the evening went on and more states declared, the Hillary Clinton tables became noisier while the Barack Obama supporters grew quieter and more morose.
Obama won a string of victories on Tuesday, including the bellwether state of Missouri and claimed an equal share of the delegates up for grabs. He failed, however, to make the narrative-changing breakthrough that his supporters were hoping for and that seemed possible at the start of the evening.
Exit polls before the polls closed anywhere predicted a disastrous night for Clinton, suggesting that she would lose California and a string of east coast states including New Jersey and Massachusetts.
Georgia, the first state to declare, was always likely to go to Obama and few were surprised by his 85 per cent share of the black vote. He also won 43 per cent of white votes, however, double the share he received in South Carolina last month.
The bad news for Clinton continued with the loss of Connecticut and Delaware but as the count progressed in the bigger northeastern states, her supporters began to relax. She won a thumping victory in her home state of New York, even carrying Harlem and won comfortably in New Jersey and Massachusetts.
She also captured Arizona, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Tennessee before picking up the biggest prize of the night, California.
Obama won more states than his rival, including his home state of Illinois, Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Utah.
He snatched a narrow victory in Missouri after a see-saw count that appeared for a long time to be going Clinton's way.
Addressing supporters in New York, Clinton thanked them for "making history" and voting to "remake America" after eight years of Republican rule.
"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," she said.
Clinton said the race was about "the mother whose insurance company won't pay for her child's treatment; the couple so determined to send their daughter to college they're willing to mortgage their home with a subprime second mortgage; the man who asked me what he was supposed to do after training the person who will take his job in another country; the veterans who've come home, only to find they don't have the health care."
Obama told supporters in Chicago the choice between him and Clinton was about giving Democrats the best chance to win back the White House in November.
"It's a choice between going into this election with Republicans and independents already united against us, or going against their nominee with a campaign that has united Americans of all parties, from all backgrounds, from all races, from all religions, around a common purpose.
"It's a choice between having a debate with the other party about who has the most experience in Washington, or having one about who is most likely to change Washington, because that's a debate that we can win," he said.
As Obama's campaign claimed a narrow lead in the delegate count, Clinton's communications director, Howard Wolfson, raised the possibility that the race could drag on until the nominating convention in August.
"It is likely that neither side will ever come out to a large lead in delegates. And so for all of those who wish for a battle that goes to the convention, in terms of neither side definitively wrapping this up, you could be looking at that here," he said.
As both candidates prepare to return to the campaign trail today, Obama brushed aside the suggestion that he would be an easier target for Republicans because he has not been as closely vetted as Clinton has.
"I have to just respond by saying that the Clinton research operation is about as good as anybody's out there," he said.
"I assure you that having engaged in a contest against them for the last year that they've pulled out all the stops . . . whoever the Democratic nominee is the Republicans will go after them. The notion that somehow Senator Clinton is going to be immune from attack or there's not a whole dump truck they can't back up in a match between her and John McCain is just not true."
Obama raised $32 million in January and Clinton raised $13.5 million, a gap that allowed Obama to advertise in almost every Super Tuesday state and to get a head start on advertising in primaries and caucuses over the next week.
Clinton's chief strategist Mark Penn said yesterday that he expected Obama to outspend her over the next few weeks.
"We will have funds to compete but we're likely to be outspent again," he said.