By Jeff Zeleny and Julie Bosman
The New York Times
Wednesday 06 February 2008
A coast-to-coast series of primaries and caucuses Tuesday ended with one definitive conclusion for Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama: The show will go on.
As the Democratic presidential candidates crowed over the states they won from different regions of the country, with Mrs. Clinton claiming a patch of the South and Mr. Obama seizing a swath of the Rocky Mountain West, they began recalibrating for a new phase of the nominating fight. Even as they counted their delegates, they sought to learn lessons and build upon the results as the race returns to a somewhat less-frenzied pace of campaigning.
"After seven years of a president who listens only to the special interests, you're ready for a president who brings your voice, your values and your dreams to your White House," Mrs. Clinton said to cheering supporters in New York. "Tonight, in record numbers, you voted not just to make history, but to remake America."
Mr. Obama, addressing his admirers in Chicago, presented his candidacy as a movement that can win in small states and large states and transcend a racial divide in America.
"What began as a whisper in Springfield has swelled to a chorus of millions calling for change," Mr. Obama said, recalling his announcement one year ago in the Illinois capital. "It's a chorus that cannot be ignored, a chorus that cannot be deterred."
Like other politically inclined Americans, Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton were glued to television screens as an epic evening of political theater played out in 15 primaries and 7 caucuses. As the Democratic presidential race moves on, both sides were predicting at least a monthlong delegate battle ahead.
While Mr. Obama was winning a broad assortment of states, particularly those that held caucuses that rely upon grass-roots organization, Mrs. Clinton won Massachusetts and Arizona. In both states, Mr. Obama had secured endorsements from leading Democrats, from Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John Kerry of Massachusetts and Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona.
With the field now narrowed to two, Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton both argued that the contest had evolved into a mathematical quest of winning delegates. Yet both sides also were carefully tracking the states as they were declared for one side or the other.
Hour by hour, the Clinton and Obama campaigns pounced on the results coming in Tuesday evening, offering their particular spin. And they were not shy about calling victories well before television networks did.
With about 20 percent of the ballots counted, the Clinton campaign issued an urgent dispatch: "Massachusetts alert: Upset of the night." Less than an hour later, the state was called in her favor, with the Clinton statement taking care to remind people that Mr. Obama had been endorsed by the state's two senators.
Hundreds of Mrs. Clinton's supporters gathered in Midtown Manhattan, sipping wine from plastic cups and watching television screens tuned to CNN as they awaited her arrival. Early in the evening, the ballroom was quiet and subdued, but as Mrs. Clinton's victories in New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey were announced, crowd members grew more boisterous, waving blue "Hillary" signs in the air.
There was a similar scene inside a hotel ballroom in downtown Chicago, where supporters of Mr. Obama tracked the results as they appeared on giant television screens. As his victories in Georgia and Alabama, Delaware and Illinois were announced, the crowd roared with approval.
While Mrs. Clinton spent the early evening at her home in Chappaqua, N.Y., conducting radio interviews and having a little down time, Mr. Obama had dinner with family and friends at his home in the Kenwood neighborhood of Chicago.
As ballots were still being cast on the West Coast and counted nearly everywhere else, the Clinton campaign issued a bulletin each time a state was called in her favor. Her strategists presented her wins in Tennessee and Oklahoma as evidence that she could win in so-called red states in the South.
"For months, the Obama campaign has been spinning that they have a monopoly on red states," a campaign statement said. "Tonight we showed that they don't."
John Edwards's withdrawal from the race last week may have benefited Mrs. Clinton in Oklahoma, where he had campaigned and drawn support, particularly from white, blue-collar voters. After Mr. Edwards abandoned his bid for the nomination last week, his advisers said they expected most of those supporters to turn to Mrs. Clinton.
In a conference call with reporters at 10 p.m., campaign strategists said they felt Mrs. Clinton was making a strong showing, but that the battle would continue through the March 4 contests in Texas and Ohio - and, perhaps, beyond.
"We feel like we've had a good night, but this contest is far from over," said Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton. "The American people are still very much interested in what both candidates have to say."
A few moments later, Mr. Obama's strategists echoed the sentiment.
"We may end up with more delegates," said David Plouffe, the campaign manager for Mr. Obama. "We are going to come out of this in much better shape than we would imagine."
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Jeff Zeleny reported from Chicago, and Julie Bosman from New York.
