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Candidates prepare for 'Super Tuesday'

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama talks to the press on a flight from Wilmington, Delaware, to Chicago, Illinois, on Sunday. PHOTO: REUTERS

Exhausted White House hopefuls yesterday launch one last frenzied day of campaigning before 24-state "Super Tuesday" the biggest one-day White House nominating contest in history.

Senator Hillary Clinton was battling to hold off her Democratic rival Senator Barack Obama in the unprecedented nationwide showdown, while Republican Senator John McCain looked set to take a firm grip on the Republican presidential nomination.

"We want somebody with a few battle scars, who's been tested, who's ready to go the distance against whatever the Republicans decide to do," the former first lady told cheering supporters at a rally in Minnesota on Sunday.

"They've been after me for 16 years and much to their dismay, I am still here," said Clinton, who is vying to be the US' first woman president.

Obama however spent Sunday arguing that he, and not the New York senator should lock horns with the Republicans.

"I don't think there's any doubt that the Republicans consider her a polarizing figure," he said on CBS's Face the Nation program as each rival argued they could beat McCain, a 71-year-old senator and Vietnam war hero.

Later Obama fired up a 20,000 strong crowd in Delaware and parried Clinton's latest attacks.

"I know how hard change is. But I also know this: nothing worthwhile in this country has ever happened unless somebody somewhere was willing to hope," he said.

"Super Tuesday" states account for more than half the delegates at party conventions in August and September, which formally anoint nominees.

There are 22 Democratic contests and 21 on the Republican side, with 19 states hosting nominating clashes for both parties.

While McCain is tipped to pull out a possibly decisive lead, the Democratic Party's system of proportionally allocating delegates, means the tense Clinton-Obama race could drag on until at least next month.

McCain, on the verge of one of the great political comebacks after his campaign almost fell apart last year, was confident of sealing victory against former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

"We're very proud of the progress we've made and we think we'll be able to finish this thing up by Tuesday," McCain declared in Boston.

"I will keep American safe. I will cut taxes. I will make sure we reduce excess spending," he said.

Both Clinton and Obama were due to campaign in closely contested Connecticut and Massachusetts yesterday.

The former first lady also planned to hold a unique, nationwide town-hall meeting to be broadcast live on the Internet and the Hallmark television channel, with link-ups with every state on offer today.

She was also planning a flurry of election-eve television interviews, including one with old sparring partner, talk show host David Letterman.

In a rare break from the frenetic campaign, candidates joined tens of millions of Americans and took a few hours on Sunday to watch football's Super Bowl championship game between the New York Giants and New England Patriots.

Clinton was jubilant, when her home state team won, and immediately looked for good omens from its 17-14 victory.

"What an incredible ending," she said in a bar in St Paul Minnesota after watching the Giants come-from-behind win.

"Super Bowl, Super Tuesday ... we've got one down, let's get the other one!" she said as she jumped in the air and high-fived a group of children.

A new national poll for the Washington Post and ABC had Clinton with a slim four-point lead over Obama -- 47 to 43 percent, and she led in most key states, but by small margins.

In delegate-rich California, Obama and Clinton were locked in a pitched battle with an average by Real Clear Politics showing her up just one point.

Maria Shriver, wife of California's Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and niece of assassinated president John F. Kennedy, became the latest member of her extended clan to back Obama.

"The more I thought about it, I thought, you know, if Barack Obama was a state, he'd be California," Shriver said at a rally in the state, which also included talk show queen Oprah Winfrey and Obama's wife Michelle.

"I mean, think about it: diverse, open, smart, independent, bucks tradition, innovative, inspiring, dreamer, leader!" Shriver said.
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