Obama Projected to Win Mississippi

Barack Obama headed towards a solid victory over Hillary Clinton in the Mississippi primary tonight, re-asserting his status as the front runner in the final stretch of the campaign for the Democratic nomination.

Television exit polls and early returns projected Obama would win Mississippi within minutes of the close of polls.

The results looked all but certain to expand Obama's lead in delegates over Clinton, making it increasingly difficult for her to catch up with only 10 more states still to hold their Democratic primary contests.

However, the vote in Mississippi once again drew attention to the deepening racial polarisation within the Democratic party - only hours after a row over controversial comments from Geraldine Ferraro, a Clinton supporter.

As in other southern states, Obama owed his finish last night to strong support from African-American voters.

Mississippi has the largest African-American electorate of any of the southern states, and blacks voted for Obama in overwhelming numbers. Exit polls suggest Obama won 91% of the African American vote.

However, he won less than a third of the white vote, a weaker performance than Obama had delivered in predominantly white states such as Wisconsin.With Mississippi's demographics in mind, Clinton had downplayed expectations in the state, and moved on to campaign in Pennsylvania early in the day.

"Some people have said, 'Well Mississippi is very much a state that will most likely be in favor of Senator Obama.' I said 'Well, that's fine'," she said in Hattiesburg, Misssissippi, before flying north.

Last night's contest was almost overshadowed by the growing row over comments from Ferraro, who in 1984 was the first woman ever to run on a national ticket as vice-president.

In an interview with a California newspaper, Ferraro had suggested Obama was only ahead in the race because he was African-American.

The row forced Clinton to distance herself from the remarks. But last night Ferraro went even further than her original comments telling the same newspaper, the Daily Breeze, that the furore suggested she - not Obama - was a victim of racism.

"Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let's address reality and the problems we're facing in this world, you're accused of being racist, so you have to shut up,'' Ferraro was quoted as saying. ''Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?''

Ferraro had also argued that the campaign had shown sexism to be more pernicious than racism. "It's OK to be sexist in some people's minds. It's not OK to be racist."

Tonight's results bring a relatively long hiatus for the Democratic nomination, with six weeks to go before Pennsylvania holds its primary on April 22.

There were only 33 delegates at stake in Mississippi. But in this closely fought delegate race tonight's win - on top of Saturday's victory in the Wyoming caucus - bring Obama closer to the 2,025 needed to secure the Democratic nomination. As the campaign enters its final stretch - with only 10 states left to vote â€" it is unlikely either candidate can reach the magic number.

It also helps undermine Clinton's claims after winning the big states of Texas and Ohio last week that the race has turned into a virtual tie.

Obama began the night with 1,579 delegates, according to the Associated Press. Clinton had 1,473.