Why feb 5 looks super to hillary

The margin in the New Hampshire primary was razor-thin. But she clearly beat Barack Obama among core Democratic voters, the very bloc that will grow in influence as the nomination fight continues in the coming weeks.

Strip away the independents who made up about four in 10 participants in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, thanks to the state’s open-balloting rules, and Clinton outpaced Obama 45 per cent to 34 per cent, according to an exit poll conducted for a media consortium.

Moreover, she beat the Illinois senator among women — a crucial group for her and one that she lost in last week’s Iowa caucuses — and among lower-income households and older voters.

“This is an amazing comeback story for her over the course of a relatively few days,” said Mark Mellman, a Democratic strategist who advised John F Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign.

If her advantage among Democrats holds true in the flurry of primaries set for February 5, Clinton could regain the traction that seemed lost when last week’s defeat in Iowa ended her yearlong reign as the Democratic front-runner.

Only registered Democrats can take part in a number of the February 5 contests. Non-Democrats are not welcome. For example, in voting in Connecticut, Arizona and in Clinton’s home state of New York, potential strongholds for Clinton that each control more nomination delegates than the relative handful from Iowa, New Hampshire and other earlier states.

Another major prize that day is California, where unaffiliated voters will be permitted to participate in the Democratic primary. But some strategists believe California’s Latino voters could boost Clinton, who is more popular in that group than Obama.

All told, more than 2,000 delegates will be decided that day, enough to seal the nomination. And by proving her strength, Clinton on Tuesday probably succeeded in calming skittish donors and supporters who had begun to wonder if she could even last until next month’s contests.

The exit polls, conducted by Edison/Mitofsky for a media consortium, surveyed 1,955 Democratic primary voters. The survey found that Clinton, who spoke on Monday of shattering the “highest and tallest glass ceiling in our country” by becoming the first female President, won 46 per cent of women’s votes, compared to 34 per cent for Obama.

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