West Virginia voters go to polls

Racially motivated voting appeared to be running higher than usual: Two
in 10 whites said the race of the candidate was a factor in their vote,
second only to Mississippi. And only a third of those voters said
they'd support Obama as the nominee against John McCain, fewer than in
other primaries where the question has been asked.

At the same time, 48 percent in preliminary exit poll results
picked "change" as the top candidate attribute, not far from its level
across all primaries to date, and Obama's trademark.

And six in 10 voters said Clinton had attacked her opponent unfairly; fewer, just under half, said Obama had attacked unfairly.

Obama Takes Hit in West Virginia

Nonetheless there also were criticisms of Obama in the West Virginia electorate.

About half of voters said that at least to some extent he shares the
views of his controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright;
fewer though, two in 10, thought he shares "a lot" of views with
Wright.

About half also doubted Obama's honesty and trustworthiness,
turning the tables on an attribute on which Clinton more often has come
up short.

The
polls close at 7:30pm ET in West Virginia but we have our first peek at
some of the exit polling results. Most voters made up their minds at
some time before last week – a period which has been dominated by talk
of Hillary Clinton’s ability to continue in the race. Seventy eight
percent of voters in the early CBS News exit polls said they had
decided who they would be supporting before the past week.



As it has been throughout the primary season, the economy was once
again the top issue on the minds of voters, with 64 percent saying so.
Eighty eight percent said they had been directly affected by the
economic slowdown and 63 percent said they were in favor of proposals
to temporarily suspend the gas tax.



Change was the quality voters were looking for most in a candidate,
with 48 percent saying so compared to 23 percent who said experience
was. Just eight percent said the ability to win in November was the
most important quality for them.



There are more signs of a split within the Democratic Party. Just
23 percent of Hillary Clinton voters in West Virginia said they would
be satisfied if Barack Obama was the Democratic nominee while 75
percent said they would be dissatisfied – the highest number recorded
in exit polls yet.

Tonight, forget about West Virginia. The contest there between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is fraught with as much tension as a soccer match with 4-year-olds.

They’re just kicking the ball around. Any goals will be meaningless, and even the loser gets a trophy at the end.

No, turn your eyes South. The real political hacks will be watching northern Mississippi, where Democrats will try to snatch a third U.S. House seat in a row from Republicans.

And Republicans will discover whether their third attempt to tie Obama — and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright — to the local Democrat is the charm.

Sen Hillary Clinton went into the primary with a big lead in the opinion polls over rival Sen Barack Obama.

Mr Obama remains the clear frontrunner in the overall contest, having garnered more support and more cash.

Correspondents say even the expected easy win for Mrs Clinton will do little to alter the course of the battle.

In the primaries and caucuses so far, Mr Obama has won more of the delegates who will choose the party's nominee at the Democratic National Convention this summer.

An additional two dozen superdelegates - party and elected officials - have declared their support for him in the past week, according to the Associated Press news agency, swelling his lead.

Pressure

Mrs Clinton has been campaigning hard in West Virginia, although only 28 delegates are at stake.

Voters in West Virginia's Democratic primary make their choice between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama

She hopes a big win will bolster her argument that she is stronger than Mr Obama in the kind of states likely to be key battlegrounds in November's general election, analysts say.

The state's demographics are in her favour, with a population that is 95% white, largely blue collar and culturally conservative. Such groups have tended to support Mrs Clinton in previous primary elections.