2008 Woodie Awards
Super Tuesday Sheds New Light on Nominations
Calvin Woodward: Associated Press
Issue date: 2/7/08 Section: News
WASHINGTON (AP) - Boosted by his big night, John McCain asked his loudest conservative critics Wednesday to "calm down" and support his Republican presidential candidacy, as Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton girded for more rounds of their protracted struggle for the Democratic nomination.
Obama dared claim a "big victory" because he came from so far behind, but the spoils were closely divided and the bragging rights, shared.
McCain was referring primarily to radio talk show hosts and other pundits of the right when he appealed for unity now that he has a leg up in the nomination race.
"I think they've made their case against me pretty eloquently," he said, adding wryly, "if that's the right word." He asserted that the pundits' conservative hero Ronald Reagan - and his - reached across the aisle to Democrats just like he wants to do as president.
Both Obama and Clinton were looking ahead to the fall, campaigning as the Democrat tough enough to withstand Republicans attacks, and the Illinois senator pointedly argued Wednesday that he's been tested by the hard-driving Clinton campaign.
"The Clinton research operation is about as good as anybody's out there," Obama told a news conference. "I assure you that having engaged in a contest against them for the last year, that they've pulled out all the stops. ... We can take a punch. We're still standing."
Obama cited his growth in opinion polls that once found him far behind Clinton.
"We won big states and
small states," he said. "We won red states and we won blue states and we won swing states."
Clinton, too, won big, small, red, blue and bellwether: her column includes California, Oklahoma, New Jersey, Arizona and Tennessee.
Altogether, Obama won 13 Super Tuesday states; Clinton, eight plus American Samoa. Clinton scored the advantage in delegates, bringing her total to 845 to Obama's 765, by the latest accounting. The road ahead was long for the Democrats: It takes 2,025 delegates to claim their nomination.
Obama dared claim a "big victory" because he came from so far behind, but the spoils were closely divided and the bragging rights, shared.
McCain was referring primarily to radio talk show hosts and other pundits of the right when he appealed for unity now that he has a leg up in the nomination race.
"I think they've made their case against me pretty eloquently," he said, adding wryly, "if that's the right word." He asserted that the pundits' conservative hero Ronald Reagan - and his - reached across the aisle to Democrats just like he wants to do as president.
Both Obama and Clinton were looking ahead to the fall, campaigning as the Democrat tough enough to withstand Republicans attacks, and the Illinois senator pointedly argued Wednesday that he's been tested by the hard-driving Clinton campaign.
"The Clinton research operation is about as good as anybody's out there," Obama told a news conference. "I assure you that having engaged in a contest against them for the last year, that they've pulled out all the stops. ... We can take a punch. We're still standing."
Obama cited his growth in opinion polls that once found him far behind Clinton.
"We won big states and
small states," he said. "We won red states and we won blue states and we won swing states."
Clinton, too, won big, small, red, blue and bellwether: her column includes California, Oklahoma, New Jersey, Arizona and Tennessee.
Altogether, Obama won 13 Super Tuesday states; Clinton, eight plus American Samoa. Clinton scored the advantage in delegates, bringing her total to 845 to Obama's 765, by the latest accounting. The road ahead was long for the Democrats: It takes 2,025 delegates to claim their nomination.
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