Clinton and Obama Trade Victories

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Clinton and Obama Celebrate Feb. 5 Victories

Americans in 24 states went to the polls on Feb. 5 to cast ballots in the largest ever "Super Tuesday" election. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, the two Democratic frontrunners, cast votes in their home states and then awaited the results. Both candidates scored important victories.

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There will be 4,049 delegates attending the national convention; a candidate needs 2,025 to secure the nomination. Of that total, 3,253 are pledged delegates, which means their votes are determined by the caucus or primary results in their state. The remainder are superdelegates, who are free to vote for whomever they prefer.

Going into yesterday's balloting, Obama had 63 delegates to Clinton's 48 in the first four party-sanctioned contests of the year -- Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. Clinton held a lead among superdelegates. Various news organizations count the distribution of superdelegates differently, but Clinton is widely agreed to lead Obama by a margin of about 90.

Clinton voted in New York yesterday morning and spent most of the day conducting interviews, her voice on the verge of vanishing after days of cross-country campaigning. "The stakes are huge," she said as she cast her ballot at an elementary school near her Chappaqua home.

Obama voted in his home town of Chicago, at an elementary school in the Hyde Park neighborhood.

Throughout the day, Clinton advisers worked to play down expectations. Even before any polling stations were closed, Penn and senior adviser Howard Wolfson held a conference call with reporters to announce that Clinton had agreed to a series of debates between now and the March 4 primaries and invited Obama to join her. Doubting that they would be able to pull off a decisive victory yesterday -- and with a slate of races in the weeks ahead that they believe will skew in Obama's favor -- the Clinton campaign is now banking on doing well in Texas and Ohio on March 4. Penn said Clinton would participate in an ABC News debate Sunday, a Fox News debate Monday in Washington, a Feb. 27 CNN debate in Ohio and a Feb. 28 MSNBC debate in Houston.

"The campaign believes it's critically important that we continue the debates between Senator Obama and Senator Clinton," Penn said. "We think it's critically important that people get to see the candidates face to face."

Obama advisers declined to commit to a new round of debates. The next important competitive contests will be next Tuesday, when Maryland, Virginia and the District will hold primaries.

Staff writers Perry Bacon Jr., with Clinton, and Shailagh Murray, with Obama, and polling director Jon Cohen polling analyst Jennifer Agiesta and research director Lucy Shackelford in Washington contributed to this report.