Democrats in Wisconsin and Hawaii were voting Tuesday in a presidential campaign that has gotten increasingly negative with charges of broken promises, plagiarism and petty partisanship. Hillary Rodham Clinton was looking to rebound after eight straight losses to Barack Obama who was looking to increase his lead in the race for nominating delegates, according to AP In the Republican race, John McCain, the presumptive nominee, was looking for convincing wins over former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in primaries in Wisconsin and Washington state to show that the party is rallying behind his candidacy. The Arizona senator picked up former President George H. W. Bush's support on Monday, a critical blessing by a pillar of the Republican establishment. Recent polls show tight race in Wisconsin, even as Clinton's advisers have publicly downplayed their expectations, giving her a chance to halt Obama's streak of eight straight wins since they battled to a split decision in 22 contests on Feb. 5, Super Tuesday. At stake in Tuesday's primary are 74 of Wisconsin 92 convention delegates, while Obama's native Hawaii, which also holds its caucuses on Tuesday, offers 20. Obama recently took over the lead in the chase for nomination delegates 1,281-1,218. It takes 2,025 delegates to secure the presidential nomination at the party's convention this summer in Denver. Clinton, who a few weeks ago was the front-runner, hopes a strong showing in Wisconsin will give her a boost going into the bigger state contests in Texas and Ohio on March 4 that could decide the fate of her bid to be the first female U.S. president. Obama is trying to become the country's first black president. In Texas, a must-win state for the New York senator, a poll released Monday showed a tight race, with Clinton at 50 percent, and Obama at 48 percent. About a quarter of state Democrats said they could still change their minds, according to the CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll. McCain was leading preacher-turned-politician Mike Huckabee in the Republican race, 55 percent to 32 percent. The poll was conducted Feb. 14-17 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
