Obama wins Mississippi primary, new race row rocks Democrats

Obama wins Mississippi primary, new race row rocks Democrats


BILOXI: Barack Obama on Tuesday surged to victory in Mississippi's Democratic primary (Watch) , in a new triumph over Hillary Clinton, as a fierce new race row rocked their bitter White House race.

The Illinois senator punched back with his second win in a row since the former first lady pulled her campaign back from the brink of extinction, with huge victories in Texas and Ohio last week.

As Mississippi voted, the tone of the race took another nasty lurch, as the Obama camp demanded the dismissal of Clinton's supporter Geraldine Ferraro, for saying: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position."

With its 33 nominating delegates up for grabs, conservative Mississippi, reliably Republican in general elections, was the last showdown in the Democratic race before the huge Pennsylvania primary on April 22.

Television exit polls handed Obama the victory within minutes of polls closing in the state, and showed a large racial divide: MSNBC figures showed nine in ten African Americans going for the 46-year-old.

Fox News exit polls said white men went for Clinton 69 to 30 per cent, and white women by 74 per cent to 26 per cent.

Obama's victory was likely to erase the net gain of nominating delegates by the former first lady with her victories last week, leaving her still trailing by a significant margin.

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com