Wisconsin Voters Brave Cold to Cast Ballots

Democrats in Wisconsin are going to the polls today amid freezing temperatures and driving snow that reflects the increasingly bitter presidential race between the party's two candidates.

Hillary Clinton is looking to bring an end Barack Obama's eight-state winning streak, and with Wisconsin's 92 Democratic delegates at stake and a further 29 delegates to be decided by a caucus in Hawaii, the results could have a significant impact on the outcome of the Democratic race.

Although the Clinton campaign has conceded the edge to Obama in Wisconsin, polls are close. A win, or even a closer result than the routs Clinton suffered last week, would give her a boost when the campaign moves to the bigger states of Ohio and Texas on March 4. However, a big defeat could raise questions about the viability of her candidacy.

They entered today's contests closely divided in the hunt for the 2,025 delegates needed for the nomination: 1,281 for Obama and 1,218 for Clinton.

Despite the bitterly cold temperatures the turnout in Wisconsin is predicted to be 35%, which would be the highest in 20 years, and reflects the importance of the contest.

In the Republican race, John McCain is hoping to move closer to securing his party's nomination in primaries in Wisconsin and Washington state, where 56 delegates are at stake. The Arizona senator began the day with 908 delegates, while Mike Huckabee had 245.

Today's Democrat contests follow a series of bruising encounters between the two candidates, including an attack by Clinton that went to the heart of Obama's appeal by accusing him of plagiarizing lines in his speech and copying her economic plan.

The allegations struck at Obama's inspirational rhetoric - which he deployed to good effect against Clinton when the two appeared at a Democratic dinner in Milwaukee at the weekend.

Yesterday, the Clinton campaign noted that Obama lifted a key passage of his speech defending the power of oratory from the Democratic governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick.

"Don't tell me words don't matter," Obama said in his speech. "'I have a dream' - just words? 'We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal' - just words? 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself' - just words? Just speeches?"

The passage was borrowed verbatim from a 2006 speech by Patrick and available on YouTube.

Although the Clinton campaign was unable to provide proof of systematic borrowing by Obama, they said it called into question his entire campaign, which has been based, in part, on soaring speeches.

"It raises questions about the premise of his candidacy," Howard Wolfson, Clinton's spokesman, told reporters in a conference call.

Campaign aides also accused Obama of copying Clinton's economic plan, which she released as a 13-page booklet yesterday.

Obama admitted yesterday that he should have credited Patrick, who campaigned for him in Massachusetts and has also worked with the political consultant David Axelrod.

But he insisted that most of the words were his own. "Look here, I've written two books. Wrote most of my speeches," he told reporters in Ohio.

"Deval and I do trade ideas all the time, and, you know, he's occasionally used lines of mine."

He went on to accuse Clinton of stealing some of his lines.

On the Republican side yesterday, John McCain received approval from the party establishment when he was endorsed by the former president, George Bush Sr.

The Bush family's embrace formalized an effort by the Republican party to move beyond conservative qualms about McCain and unite around him as the presumed nominee.

In a speech delivered from an airport hangar in Houston, the former president hailed McCain's security credentials. "No one is better prepared to lead our nation in these trying times than senator John McCain," Bush said.

He followed up the endorsement with an appeal to Mike Huckabee, McCain's challenger, to quit the race.

"I did not come here to tell any other candidate what to do," Bush said. "It's a hard thing to do. It can take a while for any candidate to read the handwriting on the wall."