Warren County in step with state vote

Mississippi voters helped Sen. Barack Obama regain momentum Tuesday in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

With 99 percent of the vote counted, the Illinois senator had 61 percent to 37 percent for Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

Obama carried 90 percent of the black vote and 33 percent of the white vote, according to exit polling. Clinton won in counties that have trended Republican in recent general elections for president.

Warren County voters in 16 of 22 precincts gave Obama a 70 percent majority over Clinton. Included in Obama’s column was the Culkin precinct, the county’s largest and usually a Republican stronghold in November general elections. More votes went to Obama in the precinct there than for Republican John McCain, the senator from Arizona who locked up his party’s nod before primaries here.

With his margin, Obama picks up 20 of Mississippi’s 33 delegate votes to the Democratic National Convention. His lead among pledged delegates, by most tallies, is now 1,385 to 1,237 for Clinton, who still leads among superdelegates 247-211. Mississippi has seven superdelegates, three of whom are pledged to Obama, three not declaring and one yet to be selected. It takes 2,025 to win the nomination.

McCain polled 79 percent of the Republican primary vote statewide and 1,249 votes in Warren County. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee polled 151 votes in Warren County. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, still in the race, received 73 votes in Warren County.

Local turnout was low for a presidential primary, local party officials said as votes came in late Tuesday. Including 348 absentees, 9,305 ballots were cast out of 35,746 voters registered, or about 26 percent. On the Democratic side, 7,700 ballots were cast for president, up from 1,460 in 2004. Republicans cast 1,537 ballots for president.

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., easily won his party’s nod easily with 85 percent of the districtwide vote over Dorothy Benford. His 5,769 votes in Warren County secured his first victory here in a contested election since taking office in 1993. Thompson takes on Republican Richard Cook in the general election Nov. 4.

In the only statewide Democratic contest, former state Rep. Erik Fleming bested Shawn O’Hara with 65 percent of votes to advance and face incumbent U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, unopposed for the Republican nomination.

Other races in Mississippi were races in the 1st and 3rd districts in the U.S. House. Former Tupelo Mayor Glenn McCullough will face Southaven Mayor Greg Davis in a runoff April 1 to succeed Roger Wicker in the 1st, while state Sen. Charlie Ross and former Rankin County GOP chair Gregg Harper will face each other in a runoff to succeed Rep. Chip Pickering in the 3rd.

Wicker was appointed to the U.S. Senate to replace the retiring Trent Lott. Pickering chose not to run for another term.

Democratic runoffs April 1 will have Prentiss County Chancery Clerk Travis Childers facing state Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, for the right to face the Ross/Harper winner in the 1st District.

Six weeks will elapse before another presidential primary is held. Pennsylvania is the next big prize and will cast votes April 22.

The Keystone State has similar demographics to the most recent Clinton victories in Ohio and Texas. Obama’s win in Missisisppi followed patterns of strong support from black voters seen in his other Deep South primary wins in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Louisiana.

Exit polls also showed black Mississippians, about 37 percent of the total citizenry, accounted for about half of all ballots cast in the state. One in six Democratic primary voters were independents, with Obama and Clinton splitting their support. Another 10 percent of Democratic voters said they were normally Republicans, with Clinton winning among them by a 3-to-1 margin.

The seesaw battle from state to state, made even more complex by the Democratic party’s proportional allocation of delegates, has increased the importance of the 794 unelected superdelegates. Other than Pennsylvania, the remaining primaries are in Indiana, North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota.

No consensus has been reached between the Democratic National Committee and state officials on delegates in Michigan and Florida. The two states’ delegates were disallowed before primaries began in January because state parties in each moved up their respective primary dates against the national party’s rules. A revote by mail has been floated as a possible solution.