By IRNA
New York : A surging Barack Obama surged up for the historic “Super Tuesday” national nominating showdown by wiping out White House foe Hillary Clinton.
“Well I said I would not tear up, already we are not exactly on the path,” said Clinton, 60, in an emotional moment, as she battled Obama for votes in the northeastern states of Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Obama, 46, rocked a rally in New Jersey, a Clinton stronghold where he is increasingly competitive, showing few signs of fatigue and accusing his rival of being derisive about his soaring calls for change.
“If you will stand with me New Jersey, tomorrow, if you will vote for me, if you will cast off the fear and the doubt and the cynicism, we will not just win in New Jersey, we will win all across this nation on Tuesday,” said Obama, introduced to a 4,500 strong crowd by Hollywood icon Robert De Niro.
The cliffhanger Democratic race contrasted with signs that McCain would all but settle the Republican nominating fight Tuesday.
“I’m guardedly optimistic,” the Arizona senator told reporters in Massachusetts, the home state of his top rival Mitt Romney.
A USA Today poll gave McCain a 42 percent to 24 percent lead over Romney, with former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee on 18 percent.
But Romney refused to admit defeat. “This is going to come down to a real battle and I think I’m going to win it,” he said at a campaign stop in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday.
“Super Tuesday” states account for more than half the Democratic delegates and almost half of Republican delegates at party conventions in August and September, which formally nominate candidates for November’s general election.
There are 22 Democratic contests and 21 on the Republican side, with 19 states hosting nominating clashes for both parties.
A clutch of new polls showed the Democratic race a neck-and-neck struggle between two rivals bidding for history, as the first woman or African-American presidential nominee.
Clinton clung to a 45-44 point lead in a USA Today/Gallup national poll, while a CNN/Opinion Research national survey had her leading Obama 49 percent to 46 percent. A CBS/New York Times poll had the race deadlocked at 41 percent.
A significant battle was brewing in California, the biggest “Super Tuesday” prize, where Clinton has led for months, but Obama was drawing level, or even ahead in some polls.
A loss in California would be a hammer blow for the former first lady, though her campaign was banking on the fact that millions of people took advantage of early voting, before Obama’s latest poll surge.
Clinton led the Illinois senator 53 to 39 percent in her home state New York in a new Quinnipiac University poll: the same survey had the race narrowing in neighboring New Jersey with the former first lady leading 48 to 43 percent.
Her campaign was not publicly rattled by the Obama surge.
The Obama campaign tried to downplay expectations.
“We fully expect Senator Clinton to earn more delegates on February 5, and also to win more states,” said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe in a memo.
His aides believe a split of the spoils on Tuesday would put Obama in pole position for later contests in February and March.
The Democratic Party’s system of proportionally allocating delegates means no clear winner may emerge from Tuesday’s voting, and Clinton-Obama race could drag on until at least March.