Once More Into the Breach: AP Future News on Primaries

As I write this it is 9:19 am ET. This is significant only when you read the following article published on the internet by the Associated Press.

Democrats Vote in Wisconsin and Hawaii

By NEDRA PICKLER – 44 minutes ago

CHICAGO (AP) — Democrats in Wisconsin and Hawaii had their say Tuesday in a hard-fought presidential campaign that has grown increasingly negative with charges of broken promises, plagiarism and petty partisanship.

Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York criticized each other as they looked to break out of a tight race, fearing the prospect that neither one will secure the nomination before the convention this summer.

They entered Tuesday'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.

The day's biggest prize was Wisconsin, where 74 delegates were up for grabs and polls showed the two in a statistical dead heat. Neither candidate made the long trip to campaign in Hawaii, where 20 delegates were to be decided by a caucus.

Obama, born in Hawaii and living in Wisconsin's southern neighbor, hoped to build on his string of eight straight wins. Clinton's campaign played down her chances in Wisconsin, but was hoping to beat expectations to give her struggling candidacy new life.

With blue-collar workers in the industrial Midwest up for grabs, both candidates focused their barbs on economic issues. Clinton's campaign sent a mailer to Wisconsin voters saying Obama's health care plan would leave 15 million uninsured, while Obama blamed Clinton's "hollering at Republicans and engaging in petty partisan politics" for the failure of the health care initiative she spearheaded in her husband's administration.

The rest of the article drones on but does not publish the results, yet.