Feb 4, 2008 5:22 pm US/Central
Clinton, Obama Remain In Dead Heat
Republicans Will Likely Be Alone In Naming A Presidential Nominee Tuesday
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Super Tuesday Primary Map
AP
Just hours to go, and Super Tuesday gets rolling. Voters in more than 20 states, Illinois among them, will head to the polls.
And right now the Democratic presidential candidates are in a dead heat. A new CBS News poll shows Barack Obama has erased a double digit lead held by Hillary Clinton. And, on the GOP side John McCain has a commanding lead over Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee.
As CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports, Republicans are likely to be the only party crowning a presidential nominee Tuesday.
High-ranking advisors -- and even a national co-chair of Clinton's campaign for president -- took a few minutes Monday afternoon to call supporters here in Illinois. The message: their votes could help her win delegates in the Prairie State even if she loses in a landslide to Obama.
"Because it's a congressional district delegate race, we're really fightin' in every state," said J.B. Pritzker, national co-chair of the Clinton campaign. "The important thing is that, in states where we might think we might not win, like Illinois, we know we can get delegates out of every congressional district."
Clinton's campaign stops on Monday included Massachusetts. She recently had a lead of more than 20 percentage points there, but that was before Sen. Ted Kennedy endorsed Obama.
At Obama's national headquarters here in Chicago, the campaign manager was low-balling expectations for Super Tuesday.
"The underdog won, and that's what we are in this campaign, so we'll take some lessons from that and hopefully apply them tomorrow," said David Plouffe, referring to Sunday night's upset Super Bowl win by the New York Giants over the New England Patriots.
Plouffe insisted, even if they come within 100 delegates of the total that Clinton racks up Tuesday, they're going to feel good.
And Robert DeNiro, who came out in support of Obama at a campaign stop Monday, is not the only aging Hollywood star making an endorsement. Jack Nicholson said he is supporting Clinton, in part, he said, because of her years of work for a national health care plan.
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