US presidential race hots up
Americans in the south and west will get their first chance to have a say on who will be their next President today as the race to the White House is as wide open as ever.
The Democrats are focusing their attention on the caucuses in Nevada, a state whose population is not prone to political enthusiasm and rarely finds itself voting early enough to play a role in who becomes the party’s nominee.
But the Republicans’ attention will be focused on their primary election in South Carolina while also hoping for good results in Nevada.
Democrats Barack Obama, who would be America’s first black president, and Hillary Clinton, who would be the first woman to lead the nation, remain close in the polls.
But Iowa victor Mr Obama received boosts both on the campaign trail and in the courts in the run-up to today’s election.
Patrick Leahy, one of the most senior Democrats on Capitol Hill, endorsed the Obama campaign, saying it was like backing John F Kennedy for president.
Coupled with the endorsement of John Kerry, the Democratic nominee in 2004, last week, Mr Obama emerged as a contender with the backing of key party figures.
This will help reduce the continued criticism from the Clinton campaign that Mr Obama is not ready, and not experienced enough, to be president.
The Obama campaign was also helped when a judge in Nevada ruled to allow casino workers to hold caucuses at Las Vegas Strip hotels.
Thousands of members of the Culinary Workers’ union there, which has endorsed Mr Obama, will now be able to attend caucuses conveniently located near their work places, rather than having to travel back to the districts where they live in order to vote.
Mrs Clinton, who won in New Hampshire, linked economic and racial themes as she travelled around Nevada, appearing to target a group of Americans that were among the hardest hit by the mortgage crisis and ensuing credit crunch that has both sparked and fuelled US economic woes.
In South Carolina, Republicans were also focusing on the economy.
Arizona senator and former prisoner of war John McCain proposed an economic plan in the state where he has led the polls.
Mr McCain, whose 2000 election campaign was derailed in the state, hopes his three rivals will split the far-right Republican vote as he appeals to the state’s moderate Republicans.
South Carolina also has many military veterans, which could help New Hampshire winner Mr McCain who is seen as a real American hero after his time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has built on the economic message which led to his strong victory in Michigan earlier this week as he pledged to pay attention to textile and other industrial job losses that have punished the South.
Mike Huckabee, the former Baptist minister and Iowa victor, is running on a message of economic populism, putting the blame for economic worries on Washington while seeking the votes of South Carolina steel workers.
Voters in three states have produced three winners in the Republican contest so far, but a fourth presidential hopeful, former Law And Order actor Fred Thompson - who has made little impact in the race to date – is hoping to get his campaign back on track as he takes on Mr Huckabee for the Christian evangelical vote.
But former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has failed to come in higher than fourth place in any state so far, is focusing on Florida, which holds its primary on January 29.
