Clinton Still Leads in the Big States

Decisive edge over Obama in 8 of the 10 most important Super Tuesday races

By Caroline Zimmerman, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 28, 2008 1:34 PM CST

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Clinton Still Leads in the Big States — Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., talks with reporters during his flight from Macon, Ga., to Birmingham, Al., Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) (Associated Press)

Barack Obama's landslide win in South Carolina gave the Illinois senator a hefty boost in the lead-up to Super Tuesday, but the big states are voting on Feb. 5, and Clinton holds the lead in most of them. The sheer diversity will prevent candidates from doing the whistle-stop campaigning that's gone into the races so far, and the demographic seem to play to her strengths, with large numbers of Latinos and white women.

But many Democratic voters remain undecided, polls are often inaccurate, and Obama has the Kennedys on his side.

Clinton currently has double-digit leads in eight of the 10 largest states voting on Super Tuesday, which control 1,500 delegates. Obama has the edge in Georgia and Illinois. "Clinton is harvesting her long-term campaign investment," says one poly sci professor. Still, polls have been off up to 17 points this year, and Bill Clinton's recent missteps—not to speak of the Kennedy embrace—may boost Obama. (More Super Tuesday stories.)

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