'Big Sky' Country Has a Big Say

MONTANANS woke to a sense of history yesterday as they headed for the polls in one of the last two contests in the Democratic primary season.

The excitement in the state capital Helena was as tangible as the icy nip in the air as the state basked in the national political spotlight.

It will be the people from Montanan counties such as Powder River, Custer, Beaverhead, Sweet Grass, Glacier, Silver Bow, Wheatland and Ponder who have the final say as voters pick between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Montana, along with South Dakota, will write the coda to this year's historic and hard-fought Democratic Party presidential battle, usually long decided by the time people in the 'big sky' state get to cast their presidential ballots.

"It's historic for us," Montana's Secretary of State Brad Johnson told The Namibian late on Monday.

He said voter registration was up and that they expected the best turnout in 36 years.

Earlier on Monday, Dennis McDonald, Chairman of the Montana Democratic Party, told journalists that excitement was running high even in cowboy country - among ranchers in Montana, the fourth largest geographic state in the US McDonald, himself a rancher, noted that ranchers generally have to drive an hour or more to get to their nearest polling station "but make no mistake they will be making that journey".

"This year we've really been lobbied and it's been an enjoyable experience," he noted.

"We have two wonderful candidates."

PRESIDENTIAL PITCH Obama and Clinton have travelled the state from corner to corner: from cities like Helena and Missoula to the Indian reservations and ranchlands.

On a whistle-stop tour across western and central Montana on Sunday, President Bill Clinton made a compelling argument for his wife at Helena's Capital High School gymnasium on Sunday night.

He told the crowd, many of whom were still uncommitted going into the meeting, that it was not enough to talk about change.

"You have to effect change," he said.

"And Hillary is the best changemaker I know ...

She can make change, not just a feeling of change."

He reeled off numerous initiatives implemented by Senator Clinton which had made a difference in the lives of people and outlined the policies she would introduce as President - from education to green-collar jobs and healthcare, which got the biggest cheer of the evening.

President Clinton also talked about some of the former First Lady's lesser-known initiatives like investing millions in federal highways, railroads and transmission lines to connect windmills to America's electrical grid.

"She's the best public servant I've ever known," he said, adding that she was also the candidate best placed to beat Republican nominee John McCain .

On Monday, Matt Chandler, Communications Director for Senator Obama's campaign in Montana, described Obama as "someone running on the potential of the US people".

Chandler felt that Obama could bring something "fresh" to Washington.

Helena taxi driver Denny D agrees.

He feels the system needs a shake-up and that Obama is the person who can do it.

But, like elsewhere, views are sharply divided.

Linde Hennessy (50), who turned up to listen to President Clinton, said she supported Senator Clinton and that the type of grit she had shown during the protracted nomination process was just what was needed to get things done in Washington.

"She'll fight to the end," she said.

At the time of going to press, nationally Obama had a thin lead in pledged delegates, while Clinton retained her lead in the popular vote following a blow-out win in Puerto Rico on Sunday.

WHAT NEXT The Senator from Illinois went into the final two primaries with a substantial lead in Montana and ahead in South Dakota, according to the polls.

While yesterday's numbers were not expected to change the permutation, they will define the positions of both candidates.

Speaking in Puerto Rico on Sunday, Clinton punted her case based primarily on her lead in the popular vote - more people have voted for her this year than in any Democratic primary - and her ability to bring home the presidency for the Democrats.

"Which candidate best represents the will of the people who voted in this historic election," she asked, as quoted in the 'Independent Record'.

"Which candidate is best able to lead us to victory in November and which candidate is best able to lead our nation as our president in the face of unprecedented challenges at home and abroad?" For Obama and his team, it is all about the delegate math.

He may not have won the popular vote, but the complicated - or sophisticated, depending which way you look at it - Democratic electoral nominating system has given him more delegates.

Although he has lost seven of the last 13 primaries, Obama's confidants say it doesn't matter.

They say math is on his side and that primary election results are not necessarily a predictor of general election results.

Such has been the closeness of the race that by the end of yesterday neither candidate was likely to reach the magic number of pledged delegates needed to be the presumptive nominee.

It will be the superdelegates who put either Obama or Clinton over the top.

And Obama remains the favourite: most late-breaking superdelegates are falling into line and going the way of the electoral math.

It was also evident yesterday that Obama's team hoped to have stacked up enough superdelegates by the time last night's results were counted to allow the delegates he wins in Montana to be seen as having the final say.

After months of campaigning, "the most significant and fiercely contested presidential primary" could be over by this morning.

As much as all eyes were on Montana early yesterday, they were expected to turn to New York last night.

Senator Clinton was scheduled to hold a rally there for supporters to give her election overview and to outline her plans.

Given the tightness of the primary race, she could take her fight to the Democratic Party convention in Denver in August - favoured by those of her most fervent supporters - but this is seen as increasingly unlikely.

According to reports on all the major television news stations, Obama and Clinton have been talking behind the scenes about the way forward.

While both candidates have vowed to "work their hearts out" for each other, it will be no easy task to woo great swathes of the supporters of whichever candidate does not get the nomination.