Razor edge vote in swing-state Missouri (Roundup)

Feb 6, 2008, 20:03 GMT

Washington - US Senators Barack Obama and John McCain both scored razor-thin victories in Democratic and Republican party primaries in the Midwestern state of Missouri, regarded as a microcosm of the country at large, according to final results Wednesday.

Missouri has been a key swing state in presidential elections for more than four decades, voting for the eventual winner in every contest since 1960.

In the Republican primary, McCain won a race in which the top three candidates were separated by just 4 percentage points. As a winner-take-all Republican state, Missouri's entire slate of 58 delegates will go to McCain at the party's presidential nominating convention in September.

Obama, who was elected in 2004 to the Senate from the neighbouring state of Illinois, had a lead of 49 per cent to 48 per cent over former first lady Hillary Clinton. It was a lead of just 10,000 votes out of more than 815,000 cast.

Clinton led for most of the night as votes from the state's metropolitan areas were slower to be counted. Obama dominated the state's two large cities, St Louis in the east and Kansas City in the west, while Clinton, a senator from New York, had the edge across rural Missouri in between.

The Democrats award delegates proportionally, meaning the state's 88 delegates to the party's August nominating convention will likely be split evenly among the two candidates.

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee led on the Republican side for most of the night as votes were counted in the state, but McCain, a senator from Arizona, enjoyed a late surge to win with 33 per cent to 32 per cent. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney was a close third at 29 per cent.

Missouri's Republican Party has a strong contingent of conservative Christians and a powerful anti-abortion lobby, which lent strength to Huckabee, a Baptist minister who has courted the religious right nationwide.