Clinton, Obama press for Texas delegates

March 31, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

AUSTIN, Texas — Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are scrambling to secure more Texas delegates as the state pushes to settle the outcome of the March 4 caucus.

Obama led Clinton 59 percent to 41 percent in results reported from conventions held across the state before counting stopped for the night Saturday — the latest stage of a process that prompted frustration and challenges from supporters of both candidates. Obama showed strength later in the count after his rival built a 60-40 edge in Saturday’s initial results.

Results were in from about half of the approximately 280 conventions before the tallying was suspended for the night.

Texas Democrats hold both a presidential primary and caucus. Clinton won the March 4 primary with 51 percent to Obama’s 47 percent, earning her 65 national convention delegates to Obama’s 61.

The state’s caucus began immediately after polls closed primary night and quickly devolved into chaos in many parts of the state after an unprecedented turnout of more than 1 million Democrats. An incomplete and unofficial count by the Texas Democratic Party showed Obama was leading Clinton in caucuses 56 percent to 44 percent on Election night.

Bowling for voters

ALTOONA, Pa. — While Democrats increasingly worry about winning ugly, Barack Obama was losing beautifully at a bowling lane in this central Pennsylvania city.

“My economic plan is better than my bowling,” Obama told fellow bowlers Saturday evening at the Pleasant Valley Recreation Center.

“It has to be,” a man called out.

Obama dropped by the bowling lanes as part of his new emphasis on low-key, face-to-face campaigning during a six-day bus tour through the state. So for the time being, he is scaling back on the big, raucous rallies that have been his calling card.

The Illinois senator said he wanted to “take time for the retail politics that I enjoy and think helps people know me better. ... We’ll probably save the rallies toward the end of the campaign.”

Saturday night, it was Obama Bowl-a-Rama.

And it was clear from the start that Obama was way out of his league.

Pennsylvania’s April 22 primary is the next contest between Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton in their fight for the Democratic presidential nomination. Pennsylvania is the biggest single delegate prize remaining in the Democratic primaries.

Paterno: Hard decision

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, a noted Republican, says he thought long and hard before deciding against greeting Bill Clinton when the former president visited campus on behalf of his wife’s presidential campaign.

Clinton pitched the Penn State ties of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday during a stop in State College, reminding the mostly youthful audience that her father and brother both played football at Penn State. In fact, brother Hugh Rodham, a 1972 graduate, was a backup quarterback under Paterno.

“I had a little bit of soul search I had to do when President Clinton was here the other day,” Paterno said Saturday. He said he felt that perhaps he should welcome Clinton out of respect for his status as a former president.

But in the end, Paterno said, “I didn’t want to get into that because of my situation, because I couldn’t vote for either one of them because I’m a Republican.” He later declined to say whether he was supporting Sen. John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee.

Hilary Clinton’s father grew up in Scranton and is buried there, and the former first lady still has relatives in Pennsylvania.

Associated Press