Wisconsin Polls Closed

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MICHELE NORRIS, host:

For more now on the races ahead in Texas and Ohio, we're going to look specifically at Ohio. We're going to Mark Naymik. He's a political reporter at the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Mark, thanks for being with us.

Mr. MARK NAYMIK (Political Reporter, Cleveland Plain Dealer): My pleasure. Good evening.

NORRIS: Now, Hillary Clinton is already looking ahead to - Wisconsin seems to be in her rear view mirror. She's in Ohio at this moment, talking to supporters there. How big a challenge does she have in that state?

Mr. NAYMIK: Well, she comes in with the demographics of the state that should be on her side, where an older population, a largely white population and one that unfortunately, you know, is undereducated compared to some of the other locations. And we've seen from exit polls, and that seems to favor her.

But she faces, like in Texas, urban areas that are delegate-rich, that have large black populations and voting blocs that seem to have a real wave of support for Obama. I spent some time in black church on Friday night at a rally without the candidate, seven, 800 people, all colors, races and ages. And a lot of talk about this is the answer to Dr. King's dream and things that just seem to really be much larger than even the candidate.

And it seems, you know, tough for a candidate to go against that. And that is happening in the big Cs of Ohio, which is Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, where it's very much a battleground and they're spending a lot of time in Youngstown. Both candidates have been there in the last three days because that's also delegate-rich areas.

NORRIS: Is that counterbalanced at all by some of the support, the endorsements that she's received in some of those big Cs from people like Stephanie Tubbs Jones.

Mr. NAYMIK: Well, her district is the single highest delegates in Ohio that's eight - up for grabs there. We're looking at the issue of whether or not the congresswoman may be swimming against the tide of her constituents. When you look at the local officials, they are with Obama in that district.

But a very effective spokesperson for Hillary, also in Columbus, Ohio, the governor, a popular governor, Democratic Governor Ted Strickland. He's been campaigning hard for Hillary, and that certainly is going to help her in some areas of the state.

But, again, your, you know, it's hard to tell. The polls have shown a little bit narrowing. In Ohio, there's a poll a couple of weeks ago that had Hillary up 21 points something more recently. It adds at about nine. So I think it's going to be close in Ohio, no doubt. And Hillary is taking a lot here. We've had all three Clintons here quite a bit and then returning again in the next couple of days.

NORRIS: Looking at the exit polls out of Wisconsin, it appears that the economy and trade were two big issues there. And it sounds like this is already shaping up to be an important issue in Ohio.

I understand that the Obama campaign is already running ads or distributing material, pointing to Hillary Clinton, saying she's not always been a friend to you on this issue, pointing particularly to the Clinton support for NAFTA.

Mr. NAYMIK: NAFTA is a big issue. It was debated yesterday, when Barack Obama came to a manufacturing plant outside of Youngstown to talk about that that his, you know, he acknowledges that he's not against trade, it's inevitable. But he wants the fair trade and certainly makes references to NAFTA, when Senator Clinton was here just a few days ago, she did it from a GM plant. So certainly, that plays big here, and we've seen that it matters in the 2006 U.S. Senate race between Mike DeWine and Sherrod Brown. He ran on trade and the economy and knocked off the two-term incumbent. So it's something that matters here.

NORRIS: Mark, thanks so much joining us.

Mr. NAYMIK: Sure.

NORRIS: That's Mark Naymik. He's a political reporter at the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

And just to recap tonight's political events, Republican Senator John McCain has won the Wisconsin primary as is Democratic Senator Barack Obama. There's a primary in Washington State continuing as well as a Democratic caucus in Hawaii.

NPR will be covering those results tonight and also during MORNING EDITION tomorrow. This is Senator Obama's ninth straight win. The contest now move on to Texas and Ohio.

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