US voters set for Super Tuesday

Super Tuesday could seal the fate of some presidential hopefuls Voters in 24 US states are set to go to the polls in primaries and caucuses on Super Tuesday - the biggest day in the presidential nominating race so far. The states will account for over half the delegates who will formally choose the candidates for November's election. The Republican race, in which John McCain is leading his main challenger, Mitt Romney, may be decided on Tuesday. But Democratic rivals Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are so close that this contest is set to go further. Both parties' presidential hopefuls spent Monday jetting across the US in last-minute campaigning ahead of the crucial primaries and caucuses. In three states, only the Democratic Party is involved, and in two, only the Republican Party. In the other 19, which together account for nearly half the US population, both parties are in action. Scramble for delegates The BBC's James Coomarasamy in Washington says that in what seems like the blink of an eye, a sprawling, multi-candidate presidential race has shrunk and transformed itself into an intense and highly focused one. In both the Republican and Democratic contests, it now comes down to a scramble for delegates on what is, without doubt, the most significant day of the campaign so far, our correspondent says. The fortunes of John McCain in this race have been a thrill ride Steve Miller, BBC News US voters' panellist, Bakersfield, California Voters' views: Super Tuesday Last-minute battlegrounds On the Republican side, it could also be the decisive one, he adds. Nine of the states holding their Republican primaries, including big states such as New York and New Jersey, have a winner-takes-all system. Whoever gets the most voters in those states is awarded all of their delegates to the party's convention, where the candidate who wins more than 1,191 votes becomes the nominee for the presidential election. A national poll for the Washington Post and ABC showed Mr McCain well ahead of his rivals. The Arizona senator had 48% against Mr Romney's 24%, with Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul trailing far behind. A Reuters/C-Span/Zogby poll gave Mr McCain double digit leads over Mr Romney in New York, New Jersey and Missouri, although the former Massachusetts governor was ahead 40% to 32% in California. The Republican front-runner kicked off his final push on Monday with a rally in Massachusetts, before heading for New Jersey and New York. He also made a last-minute change to his schedule to appear one more time in California. SUPER TUESDAY STATES Both parties: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Democrats only: Idaho, Kansas, New Mexico Republicans only: Montana, West Virginia He told reporters in Boston that he was "guardedly optimistic" he would settle his party's race within the coming 24 hours. "We think we can win, but that's why we're campaigning hard right up literally until the polls close," he said. Mr Romney, meanwhile, had an exhausting schedule of events in Tennessee, Georgia, Oklahoma and California. From Nashville, where he enjoyed a pancake breakfast with voters, he underlined his credentials as the most conservative of the Republican candidates. "If I win California that means you're going to have a conservative in the White House," he said. 'Pundits and prognosticators' The Democratic Party race is likely to be less decisive, our correspondent says. Their delegates are allocated along more complex, proportional lines that can vary from district to district, making it more difficult to predict when one of the two remaining candidates will cross the decisive delegate threshold. Further complicating the nomination contest is the presence of what are known as "super delegates" - members of the party hierarchy who will make up around a fifth of all those attending the party convention in late August. Super Latino Tuesday Chasing Georgia's youth vote They can choose who to support at any point between now and then. In close presidential races, their votes have proved decisive, he adds. Monday's Washington Post/ABC poll showed Senator Clinton's lead over Senator Obama had narrowed to 4%, while other polls showed the two neck-and-neck in the key state of California. Of the 2,025 delegates needed to secure the nomination as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, California carries 370. Despite this, both candidates spent Monday campaigning on the East Coast. Mrs Clinton began the day with a visit to a child study centre at Yale University, where she volunteered as a law student, before later making stops in Massachusetts and New York. She finished with an appearance on CBS' Late Show with David Letterman, saying the campaign had been "both exhausting and exhilarating". Mr Obama flew out of Chicago and landed in New Jersey, where he attended a rally in East Rutherford. Introduced by actor Robert DeNiro, he told the crowd: "Sometimes the underdog pulls it out. You can't always believe the pundits and prognosticators".