Obama, McCain win in Wisconsin
Illinois Senator Barack Obama and Arizona Senator John McCain won their parties' presidential primaries in Wisconsin, according to projections by all major television networks.
Obama, vying to become the first African American president, has been locked in a tight contest with Senator Hillary Clinton to secure delegates to the centre-left party's nominating convention in August.
Obama has picked up wins in more states than Clinton and has recently opened a small lead in the delegate count, but victories by the former first lady in large states and close contests elsewhere have kept the race close.
With 52 per cent of precincts reporting, Obama had 56 per cent of the vote to Clinton's 43 per cent.
The two candidates have spent the last week shuttling between Wisconsin, a Midwestern state between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River, and the looming big-state contests on March 4 in Ohio and Texas. Both are considered must-win states by the Clinton campaign.
The Democrats did not take a break from the campaign trail to watch Tuesday's results, with Obama speaking to a rally in Houston as he greeted the Wisconsin win and urged voters in Texas to go to the polls on March 4.
"I am grateful to the people of Wisconsin for their friendship and their support and their extraordinary civic pride," Obama said. "In Wisconsin, when you go to vote its 5 degrees (Fahrenheit, or minus-15 degree Celsius) outside, but that has not discouraged people from Milwaukee to Eau Claire from casting their ballots."
Obama has opened up a lead of nearly 70 delegates over Clinton in the overall battle to win the 2,048 needed to capture the Democratic nomination. At stake Tuesday were 94 pledged delegates.
McCain is his party's clear frontrunner but must still pick up delegates to formally secure the nomination to face the Democratic winner in Nov 4 elections. He was challenged in Wisconsin by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who has gained support among social conservatives and picked up wins mainly in Southern states.
McCain had 54 per cent of the Republican vote to Huckabee's 38 per cent, with 52 per cent of precincts reporting.
"My friends, I'm not the youngest candidate, but I am the most experienced," McCain joked to great applause at a rally after citing his military and foreign policy credentials and taking a shot at Obama's theme of political change, referring to him as an inexperienced candidate.
Experience has become a major theme in the race, with Clinton telling crowds that she can lead the country while stressing Obama's relatively short time on the national stage, having joined the US Senate only three years ago.
A Democratic caucus was scheduled later Tuesday in Hawaii, where Obama was born, and primaries were held in Washington state, where a caucus was held in both parties earlier this month but Republican delegates remained at stake.
Less time to read?
Try Quickreads
-
Putin says Russia ready to offer its most advanced weapons to country's allies
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday vowed to expand military cooperation with the country's allies, noting that Moscow is ready to offer them its most advanced weapons. Putin hailed the Russian military's action in Ukraine, which has triggered massive Western sanctions, and thanked Moscow's allies for their support. “We highly appreciate that we have many allies, partners and people who share our thinking on various continents,” he said.
-
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla tests positive for Covid with mild symptoms
The CEO is one of many people who have contracted Covid despite receiving full vaccination and boosting. The mutating coronavirus has continually found ways to at least partially evade immunity induced by shots and previous infections, although usually causing milder cases.
-
China holds more military drills as US lawmakers meet Taiwanese president
China has carried out fresh military drills near self-governed Taiwan in response to the ongoing visit of US lawmakers to the island as high tension, sparked earlier this month by the visit of US House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to Taipei, continues in the Taiwan Strait. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and says official ties between the island and another country is a violation of the mainland's sovereignty.
-
Ikea shoppers in Shanghai panic after security locks down store on Covid risk
Health authorities in the financial hub said that they imposed “temporary control measures” at the store, after they found out that a close contact of a 6-year-old boy with an asymptomatic Covid infection had been there. They didn’t say when the close contact was in the store.
-
Deposed Myanmar leader Suu Kyi sentenced to 6 more years in prison
Myanmar's deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to six more years in prison on Monday in a judgment that could further anger supporters of the 77-year-old Nobel peace prize laureate. It's the fourth round of criminal verdicts against Suu Kyi since the military seized power in a 2021 coup and brings her total jail term to 17 years, extinguishing any chance of her staging a political comeback while the junta remain in power.
