Obama’s message of “hope” and “change” has, however, been able to touch the right chords among voters, especially youngsters cutting across ethnic groups. There was a breach in committed Clinton votebanks of Hispanics, as the young generation among them has shown an inclination for Obama, said Sherry Greenberg, a Fellow at Max Sherman Chair in Local and State Government at the University of Texas. All political observers and experts, however, were unanimous in their views that Tuesday’s contest was going to be a “close finish”.

So far Obama with 1,386 delegates was leading the race by 100 delegates. At stake on Tuesday were 446 delegates including 228 in Texas and 162 in Ohio. What is called Texas two-step, one-third of the total delegates will be elected through caucuses in the evening by the same voters who voted in the primary.

Given the fact that John McCain was set to win the Republican Presidential nomination, there were reports about many Republicans participating in Democratic primaries and caucuses. According to Karen P Hughes, a former aide of George Bush, many of her friends had decided to vote for Clinton as they found him “too liberal”.

“We call it strategic voting. Some Republican voters want to influence the Democratic side as they believe that McCain is already decided,” said Jim Henson.

So hotly debated and contentious has been the contest in Texas that election authorities had made arrangements for extra voting machines. “When a campaign is aggressively fought out and neighbours and friends talk about it. It is a healthy thing in a democracy to have a large turn out,” Secretary of State Phil Wilson, who serves as Chief Election Officer for Texas, told The Indian Express.