Obama wins Mississippi, as new race row rocks Democrats

US: Barack Obama trounced Hillary Clinton in Mississippi’s Democratic primary, riding huge support from African Americans, as a nasty new race row rocked their White House battle.

The Illinois senator punched back with his second win in a row since the former first lady’s campaign-saving wins in Texas and Ohio last week, which halted his own 12-contest win streak and extended their epic struggle.

Even as Mississippi voted, the tone of the contest took another negative lurch, as the Obama camp demanded the ouster of Clinton supporter Geraldine Ferraro, who put Obama’s stunning rise in big-time US politics down to his race.

With its 33 nominating delegates, conservative, Deep South Mississippi, reliably Republican in general elections, was the last showdown in the Democratic race before the more significant Pennsylvania primary on April 22.

“We have had a terrific week, we have won Wyoming, we have won Mississippi,” Obama told MSNBC after his victory.

In a statement, he said people in Mississippi joined “millions of Americans from every corner of the country who have chosen to turn the page on the failed politics of the past and embrace our movement for change.”

Washington, Wednesday, AFP