Following the end of “Super Tuesday,” Wisconsin’s primary remains an important battleground for Democrats and Republicans.
U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., each won several large victories Tuesday, according to early polls. Both won their home states, each receiving large amounts of delegates.
U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., won in several large states including New York and New Jersey. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won several states in the South, including Georgia and Alabama.
Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney won in his home state and Utah, along with several western states.
Gov. Jim Doyle campaigned for Obama in Kansas Monday and watched results with supporters in the Brocach bar in Madison Tuesday night.
Doyle said the Feb 19 Wisconsin primary would be one of the most important contests in the race for the Democratic nomination so far.
“Wisconsin is going to be a very crucial state,” Doyle said.
The governor said he would campaign for Obama in Green Bay Wednesday, and Obama would visit the state multiple times before the primary.
Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton, along with other supporters of Clinton, also watched results in Madison.
Lawton said “Super Tuesday” would likely not be decisive, and Wisconsin would soon be put in the “national spotlight.”
Student issues would be best represented, according to Lawton, by Clinton.
“No one has cornered the market on student interests,” Lawton said, “Pundits would have you think [Obama] has a lock on students.”
Students for Romney Chair Bradley Engle and other supporters of the former Mass. governor did phone banking Tuesday. Engle said he was confident Romney’s message of being “the true conservative” would be seen in the results.
Engle said he expected Romney to do well in California, although it will be a “fight” for delegates. California, like Wisconsin, distributes delegates on how a candidate does in a Congressional district.
UW-Madison junior Mark Bednar supports McCain, who lead the Republican race in delegates at the end of Tuesday.
Bednar said McCain would be the best Republican in the general election and his win in South Carolina showed he could win a socially conservative state.
