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American Morning

Major Earthquake Hits Indonesia; Senator John McCain Claiming Victory This Morning

Aired February 20, 2008 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Thanks very much for being with us on this Wednesday, the 20th of February, an early edition of AMERICAN MORNING, as election results still coming in. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry.

We begin now with some breaking news just coming into us of a major earthquake that hit Indonesia. It struck off the coast of Sumatra and a local tsunami watch, a watch is now in effect.

This quake measured 7.5 magnitude. It hit a little less than two hours. And this is the same region that was devastated by the 2004 tsunami which left more than 300,000 people dead.

Witnesses say that people ran into the streets after feeling it or hearing the news. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says there is no threat of a widespread wave, but that smaller ones could reach shore.

We're going to be keeping an eye on this and bring you more information as we get it.

Meantime, while you were sleeping, people in Hawaii were making their choice. They were overwhelmingly picking Senator Barack Obama in what appears to be a steep landslide. In fact, CNN is projecting Barack Obama the winner of the Hawaii caucuses this morning.

There you see it. With about 68% of the precincts reporting Barack Obama with 76 percent of the vote to Hillary Clinton's 24 percent. Hawaii, a total of 29 delegates up for grabs -- John?

ROBERTS: Which now makes it 10 in a row for Barack Obama because earlier in the night Obama walked away with a big win in Wisconsin putting Hillary Clinton in a must-win position in Ohio and Texas. Those contests coming up on March the 4th.

Another double-digit victory, 58 percent of the pie to 41 percent for Senator Clinton, lead her by 17 points. Obama now has 1,301 total delegates. Hillary Clinton 1,239. They need 2,025 to clinch it.

And Obama has got a broad coalition of voters behind him. He won every age group under 65. He won among whites and blacks and won thousands of voters that make up some of Clinton's core constituencies, white working class voters. And now he's banking on the biggest prize left in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The change we seek is still months and miles away. And we need the good people of Texas to help us get there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Obama didn't just take Wisconsin and Hawaii, he also took center stage in all-important television time. Obama jumped on stage in Texas just minutes after Hillary Clinton started her speech in Ohio, effectively cutting off that critical speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My opponent claims to stand up for workers, he often talks about the plight of the Maytag workers in his home state. But the union of that plant supports me because -- when 1600 jobs were being lost, they say he didn't do a thing to help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: We're going to go live to Texas in our next half hour of AMERICAN MORNING to see what voters there are looking for in a president. But right now let's go over to Kiran with the results from the Republican side.

CHETRY: Well, Senator John McCain claiming victory this morning after he pulled off another steep win of his own. In fact, taking a look right now. There's Wisconsin. McClain claiming more than half of the votes there, 55 percent, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a 37 percent, and Congressman Ron Paul pulling in 5 percent in Wisconsin.

Well, in Washington state, McCain held off Huckabee, 49 percent to 22 percent. In the delegate count, McCain now has 912, if you take -- 918 actually. Huckabee has 217. And they need 1,191 for the GOP nomination.

And last night, McCain was already thinking about a different opponent in his message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will fight every moment of every day in this campaign to make sure Americans are not deceived by an eloquent but empty call for change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: And for Mike Huckabee, there was no rally but a news conference instead and also more questions about why he's sticking in this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think I was just enjoying the end of this kind of the evenings where we don't win the primary elections. So it's got to be something other than that. And it is. It's about convictions. It's about principles that I dearly, dearly believe in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Huckabee led McCain among voters who said they want a candidate who shares their, quote, "values." He joins us in our 7:30 hour. We're going to talk to him about that. Did McCain's -- but McCain did split the conservative voters as he continues his battle to bring in the GOP base.

ROBERTS: We have got you covered with the most politics in the morning. Our correspondents are up early or late following last night's big races. Our Mary Snow is with the Republicans in Little Rock, Arkansas.

And CNN is projecting Barack Obama the winner of the Hawaii caucuses this morning. Suzanne Malveaux watching the race for us this morning from Honolulu.

Suzanne, let's start with you. Barack Obama now has 10 straight wins and if there were any notion that Hawaii might have been looking competitive, they were put to rest last night with 68 percent of the vote counted, Barack Obama leads Hillary Clinton, 76 to 24 percent -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And John, really, it was just a couple of hours ago that people were caucusing, that those results were coming in. We're still getting some of those numbers. But really what you look at is the voter turnout as being really a big reason why. Think about this: the last time 2004, there were 4,000 people that participated, that caucused. Well, there were 5,000 that had signed up to caucus just since Super Tuesday.

So you can imagine, they're looking at somewhere in the range of 25,000 perhaps participating in this process. A lot of enthusiasm, excitement for Senator Barack Obama. This is his home state. But there was a sense that there was a real battle that was going to happen here and that is because Senator Clinton was not going to cede necessarily.

We saw Chelsea for three days campaigning across the islands, but when it was all said and done, when you look at those lines, when you look at the participation, it clearly went to Barack Obama.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED VOTER: I thought there was going to be 30 people here. I really did. I thought it was going to be real quick.

UNIDENTIFIED VOTER: Oh it was a long wait, but it was worth it.

UNIDENTIFIED VOTER: We had no idea the line would be that long.

UNIDENTIFIED VOTER: This is amazing. This is like Disneyland in Hawaii. Everyone's come out and everyone's excited.

UNIDENTIFIED VOTER: Well, this is my first experience and because of the tight race, that's why it made me come to make sure that our votes counted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And John, there were a lot of challenges and issues dealing with the Hawaii caucus. You had seven islands communicating back and forth. There were some areas, remote areas, where cell phones did not actually have to -- did not work. They had to go and use a landline. But ultimately, they did communicate. There were a lot of delays, a lot of people packed in, but when the results said and done, a lot of people quite pleased at how things worked out, that they're getting those numbers together, and Barack Obama, the native son, if you will, declared a winner -- John?

ROBERTS: This communication, I guess, part of the price that you pay for living in paradise. But you've been covering this race on both sides, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, what does this mean going forward now? She is 0-10. He's got -- he ran the table in the last 10 primaries and caucuses. I mean he -- I think it's probably safe to say this one, he has got some sense of momentum.

MALVEAUX: He clearly does and what the Clinton campaign really has to do here is to figure out some sort of strategy that is going to work. We noticed that they tweaked their message. She's talking about solutions. But clearly, she is losing part of her base here. She is losing part of the white vote, the female vote, the elderly vote, the union vote. He is making inroads to some of those key constituencies. She has got to somehow reached through and breaks through in the weeks to come -- John?

ROBERTS: And Texas and Ohio now just two weeks away.

Susan Malveaux for us this morning in Honolulu.

Suzanne, thanks very much -- Kiran?

CHETRY: Mike Huckabee says he's staying in the presidential race despite a growing number of voices in the party saying that he should bow out.

CNN's Mary Snow spoke with the former Arkansas governor and joins us live in Little Rock.

And Mary, when CNN crunches the numbers, even if Mike Huckabee wins every single race from now on, he's still won't get to the delegate count that he needs to clinch the nomination. What does he say about that?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kiran, he just said -- keeps saying that he is going to defy expectations and he is waving the white flag. Last night he said he was clearly disappointed. He expected to do better in Wisconsin. He had spent about five days in the state campaigning there, really counting on conservatives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Why should we give up? We worked awfully hard for 13 almost 14 months now. And we did it with far fewer resources than anybody else. I mean (INAUDIBLE) and just ruled our way through it to be here.

Can we not push through a little further and go a few more weeks and just at least give the people of this country a chance to make their own decision? I think we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: You know, Kiran, when I asked him what does he realistically hope to get out of this, by staying in the race this long, he said that he hopes -- that perhaps there will be a broker convention or perhaps that something will happen that will turn the tide in his favor. But clearly, the odds are against him.

Now Senator John McCain last night said that he admired Mike Huckabee's grit and compassion -- and passion in this fight. He said that he welcomes and respect the fact that he's still in the fight, but clearly, Senator McCain is looking forward to the general election and it was very clear that he is expecting to take on Senator Barack Obama.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCAIN: I know how the world works. I know the good and the evil in it. I know how to work with leaders who share our dreams of a freer, safer and more prosperous world, and how to stand up to those who don't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: And, Kiran, one thing that Senator McCain did do in Wisconsin, he seemed to split that conservative vote with Mike Huckabee. That's the vote that so many people have been watching. He seems to be making some inroads with conservatives -- Kiran?

CHETRY: I'm just wondering if some of that goodwill may change the longer Mike Huckabee stays in the race. Right now, as you said, John McCain is still saying, I admire his quest or, you know, his zest to stay in it.

SNOW: Yes. That's the big question that we'll point, does he becomes nuance? And you know, Mike Huckabee continues to say that they both have very good relations but clearly that is the question because it seems that he has gotten his message out. How far is he going to take it?

CHETRY: Mary Snow, this morning for us, thanks so much, in Little Rock, Arkansas. By the way, Mike Huckabee is going to be our guest. He joins us at 7:30 Eastern Time to talk more about his presidential chances. Ron Paul is going to be joining us at 8:15 Eastern as well. Both of them also have interesting takes on what is going on right now in Cuba with the resignation of Fidel Castro. So we're going to ask them about that as well -- John?

ROBERTS: And Ron Paul calling again to lift the embargo on Cuba.

So how did McCain and Obama pull off those victories? Well, by making inroads into their opponents' bases.

Let's take a look at some of exit polling data from Wisconsin, starting with the Democrats. First of all, take a look here. Barack Obama won the male vote -- you know, a little more than 2-1 here. Third -- 67 percent to 31 percent. This is a significant factor as well. Among women, it was an even split, 50-50. Hillary Clinton has tended to dominate that demographic.

This is all so very interesting as well. Look at the inroads that Barack Obama is making among white women which clearly was Hillary Clinton's constituency. She gets 52 percent of the vote, he gets 47 percent. Those numbers used to split much more widely. She would be in the 60s and he would be down in the upper 30s. So definitely making some inroads there.

Overall, among white voters, Barack Obama won 54 to 45 percent. And take a look at this. He clearly has a lock on the African- American constituency, beating Hillary Clinton 91 percent to 8 percent.

Hillary Clinton continued to appeal to older voters but that's about it. Obama won every age group except the 60 and older crowd. He also won with voters of all incomes. Voters earning less than $50,000 gave Obama 54 percent of the vote, and among those earning more than $50,000 Obama got 60 percent.

And in a big surprise -- I just want to like clear that out so you can see those numbers better, so here we go, 54-44 less than 50,000, 60-39 over 50,000 and he won here among union voters.

Now moving on to Republicans. McCain's conservative problem may be going away. He beat Mike Huckabee -- take a look at this -- among conservatives, 48 percent to 44 percent, though he lost -- Huckabee won among voters who described themselves as being very conservative. McCain only got 39 percent of the vote there. And as far as McCain's voters go, 35 percent said the war in Iraq was their number one issue. Thirty-three percent said the economy was the issue that was most important to them.

So in both sides of the fence, Republican and Democrat, Barack Obama and John McCain making inroads into their opponents' core constituencies.

So, Kiran, this could bode for a very interesting race going forward in those all-important states of Texas and Ohio. And another big question: can Mike Huckabee even hang out that long with McCain's lead as wide as it is now?

CHETRY: Oh we're going to talk to him about it coming up in just a couple of hours.

John, thanks.

It could be another Super Tuesday for someone. The next votes are less than two weeks away. That's March 4th, Ohio and Texas the big prizes. But Rhode Island and Vermont are also in the mix.

We're going to be live from Texas coming up in our next half hour.

And for the Democrats, 370 delegates will be up for grabs March 4th. The bulk of those in Ohio and Texas and that's where Hillary Clinton is hoping to make a big stand. Not as much at stake for the Republicans, 256 delegates up for grabs. Even if John McCain managed to get every last one of them, he would still be just a few short of what he needs to clinch the nomination.

So all this makes tomorrow night even more interesting where Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama go head to head -- tomorrow night. It's a presidential debate happening right here on CNN. It will be live from the University of Texas in Austin. That's tomorrow 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

And John's going to be heading to Austin this morning for a Texas-size edition of CNN Election Center 8:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll keep my fingers crossed that all your flights go smoothly.

ROBERTS: Oh thank you very much. It would be lovely if after tonight's show, I could hit Sixth Street for a little while but...

CHETRY: How about it?

ROBERTS: Unfortunately, I got to get up first thing in the morning to do this show. So there won't be any going to listen to any music.

We're going to be right back for more AMERICAN MORNING.

Still to come, Barack Obama's momentum keeps growing. Can he be stopped? We'll have some morning-after political analysis. That's just ahead.

And new details this morning about the plan to shoot down a dead satellite later on tonight. What the military is saying now about the missile being fired. Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Coming up now 18 minutes after the hour, 10 and counting for Barack Obama after wins in Wisconsin and Hawaii, both decisive victories over Hillary Clinton. Now both candidates are turning their attention to Ohio and Texas two weeks from now.

CNN contributor, "New York Daily News" columnist Errol Louis joins us now.

So Hillary Clinton, 0-10 and any idea that either Wisconsin or Hawaii were competitive was put to rest last night. Seventeen percent margin in Wisconsin. I don't even want to say what he (INAUDIBLE) in Hawaii. So what kind of shape is this race in going forward?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think Hawaii -- he was seen as a favorite son. That's where Barack Obama went to school. Wisconsin was supposed to be more competitive. A lot of blue-collar Democrats, a lot of people who were concerned about the economy, women's vote, independent thinkers. And so, you know, you've got two questions. Was it just a technical kind of a questions because Barack Obama did, in fact, outspend her about more than 4-1 when it comes to TV ads in the last week? Or is there something more fundamental?

And by winning -- basically every age group under 65, Barack Obama established that, yes, it's something else. It's not just a matter of, you know, who's got the prettiest words and who's got the most money for TV ads. There's something out there about this man that the voters like.

ROBERTS: Let's just remind viewers this morning by putting up some of these exit polling data just the link to the inroads that he's making into her core constituency. Of course, he's always done well among men. Did it again last night. Look at that. They split women 50-50. He narrowed the gap to five points among white women, which really, that's five points in the percentage split, but couple of points either way and those numbers flip around. He won among whites, 54 to 45 percent and, of course, African-Americans went overwhelmingly for him.

The fact that he cut into her core constituency in Wisconsin, can you translate that to Ohio and Texas or are they their own entities? Will the vote shape up very differently? And of course, we didn't have any data for Latino voters last night.

LOUIS: Well, as any Texan will tell you, Texas is its own category all together. But Ohio is supposed to be in some ways a lot like Wisconsin. They're industrialized states, they're part of the rustbelt. Ditto for Pennsylvania. Many of those, in fact, like western New York state. So Senator Clinton has some experience in those areas. She's supposed to be able to do well there.

If it doesn't happen for her, though, Ohio will be the one to watch. If Ohio goes the way of Wisconsin, then you have to start wondering if the race is going to be over for Senator Clinton. And Texas, again, is just a nation into itself.

ROBERTS: So the fact that he won among all income groups last night in Wisconsin, and also won among union households, what might that suggest to vote Ohio?

LOUIS: Well, what it says about Ohio and they're very much trying to make a fight of it. Up in the northeast corner, around Warren, around Youngstown, they're putting up a big fight. The Obama campaign is they're saying that they've got a message that needs to be heard. They're going to try to campaign as hard as possible there.

They'd gotten a little bit of support. There's not an overwhelming amount of support from the local Democratic organizations out there. But they're pounding their way at it.

ROBERTS: Certainly John McCain is treating Barack Obama as the frontrunner. Let's listen to what he said last night after winning in Washington and Wisconsin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCAIN: We will risk the confused leadership of an inexperienced candidate who once suggested bombing our ally, Pakistan, and suggested sitting down without pre-conditions or clear purpose with enemies who support terrorists and are intent on destabilizing the world by acquiring nuclear weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: He didn't exactly suggest bombing Pakistan. There's a little more nuance to it than that.

LOUIS: Sure.

ROBERTS: But this idea of inexperience. Hillary Clinton has been hammering Barack Obama on that. John McCain doing it again. Does he have an Achilles' heel there?

LOUIS: Well, I think he may have an issue. But let's keep in mind. John McCain, to me, when I see that -- a clip like that, he's not so much speaking to the general election. He's not looking ahead to that. He's trying to prove to Republicans who still don't quite support him in the numbers that he wants, that he's going to go after the Democrats, that he's going to make minced meat of this young kid.

So what you've got is in really, so to speak, into the 25 odd percent of Wisconsin voters who, against all odds and against all logic, are still supporting Mike Huckabee. He's still got a problem. John McCain doesn't consolidate in his base.

ROBERTS: In terms of Huckabee, with John McCain now about 275 votes away from clinching the nomination, is there any reason for Huckabee to stay in?

LOUIS: Well, sure. I mean he's -- look, this Republican conservative movement that took the White House with Ronald Reagan in the 1980, and their -- it's part of their mythology and it's accurate, actually, that it starts in 1964. It starts with the defeat, the crushing defeat of Barry Goldwater and a movement that organizes itself and embarks on a long march that culminates with a victory.

ROBERTS: So this is the beginning of a long march?

LOUIS: Well, you know, I think there's some precedent for it and there's reason to believe that Mike Huckabee might want to lead that movement. ROBERTS: All right. Errol Louis from the "New York Daily News," good to have you in this morning.

LOUIS: Thanks.

ROBERTS: So bright and early. We really appreciate your coming in.

LOUIS: Sure.

ROBERTS: Kiran?

CHETRY: Well, he went from almost a bust to a big boom. Once broke, John McCain's campaign is now piling up the cash. We're going to see why January was McCain's best month ever.

Also tonight's the night the Navy will try to shoot a falling satellite out of the sky. There are some new details coming in about how exactly this mission is going to work. Let's take a look next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCAIN: I know how the world works. I know the good and the evil in it. I know how to work with leaders who share our dreams of a freer, safer and more prosperous world, and how to stand up to those who don't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Senator John McCain in his victory speech last night. He's closing in on Republican nomination winning the Wisconsin and Washington state primaries.

And speaking of prosperous, his campaign is certainly on a fundraising roll. The newest reports from the Federal Election Commission showed that McCain raised nearly $12 million in the month of January. That's his best month of fundraising yet. McCain turned down matching government funds for the primary earlier this month. It's a move that lets him spend more money in the general election.

Stocks in Asia this morning taking a dive, falling more than 2 percent after oil prices surged above the $100 mark and closed there for the first time ever. It's since dropped back from that high but that's done little to ease fears from investors.

Markets in Europe were also down.

We're going to get an idea about the Dow futures from Ali Velshi coming up at the top of the hour.

Well, his party suffered a heavy defeat but this morning Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf is ruling out any resignation. Musharraf insisting that he and his staff will serve out his term which expires in 2012. The two opposition parties did win enough seats to form a new government but they will likely fall short of the votes needed to impeach Musharraf who has been a key ally in the U.S. war on terror.

A chaotic and tragic scene. This is in Cottonwood, Minnesota two hours south of the Twin cities. Police say that a van broadsided a school bus. The bus then smashed into a pickup truck and rolled on its side. Four children were killed. Fourteen other people were hurt. Nine are still in the hospital. The Minnesota State Patrol says it is investigating how this crash happened. The weather and the roads were clear at the time.

And there are new details this morning about the attempt to shoot down a spy satellite late tonight. The military says that the missile will not be explosive. Instead, it will just slam into the satellite at 22,000 miles per hour. I guess that's enough. I guess they didn't...

ROBERTS: That'll do.

CHETRY: ...need to load it up with anything. That first attempt, by the way, could come tonight 10:30 Eastern Time.

ROBERTS: They better hope with all this money spent on missile defense...

CHETRY: They don't miss?

ROBERTS: ...that they hit it in the first try.

CHETRY: Exactly.

ROBERTS: You don't want to miss that one.

Two more contests, two more decisive wins for Barack Obama. We're live on the campaign trail in Honolulu where they're still counting the votes coming up.

Plus the latest on the news of the earthquake that rocked Indonesia this morning. Is there a tsunami threat as a result of it? There's the epicenter. That story ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING, 5:30 here on the East coast. We're coming to you a little bit early today because we've been following the results from the election. Hawaii coming in just a little while ago, a couple hours and Barack Obama a clean sweep, makes it 10 in a row for Barack Obama and John McCain winning both primaries as well.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good night for both of them. There's also other breaking news for you this morning. We're following a major earthquake in Indonesia. A 7.5 quake struck just after 3:00 Eastern time this morning. It's about 200 miles southeast of Banda Aceh. That's in Sumatra, the region devastated by the deadly 2004 tsunami. In fact it looks like it's along exactly the same fault line that ripped open back in 2004. Tsunami warnings though have now been canceled for the area. Witnesses say people ran into the streets when they felt the first quake. No reports of any damage or injuries, but that's an extremely active area and certainly we're going to see a lot more earthquakes there in the future.

Well the votes are still coming in, but it's clear now that Hawaii voters handed Senator Barack Obama a decisive win. CNN is projecting him the winner of the Hawaii caucuses this morning. With 68 percent of the precincts now reporting, Barack Obama has 76 percent of the vote to Clinton's 24 percent. Kiran.

CHETRY: Yeah and before that Hawaii win, Barack Obama made it nine in a row with the win in Wisconsin. In fact, he won 58 percent of the vote there as you take a look to Senator Clinton's 41 percent; 92 delegates up for grabs there. Senator Clinton with 200,000 votes behind him. We're going to take a look at the map and you can see Barack Obama is represented in the dark blue and there's the momentum of 10 wins in a row. He has 1301 delegates and Clinton, her wins are in the light blue here on the U.S. map and she has 1239 delegates. For the Democrats, they need 2025 to clinch the nomination.

Meantime, the votes are still being counted in Hawaii. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is live in Honolulu with an update, but really Suzanne, I mean it looks like a runaway win for Barack Obama this morning.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He certainly is doing very well. And Kiran you said they're still tallying those results, but I want to give one number that really kind of sums it up quite well. Think about 2004. There were 4,000 Democrats who participated in the caucus process. Well, already 68 percent, two districts reporting, that number is 27,000. That is more than six times the number of people who actually participated the last go around. So really gives you a sense of the enthusiasm, the excitement and the sheer numbers of people who really got involved here.

What does this mean for both of the candidates? Well, they are looking ahead to Texas and Ohio, those big states, potentially big wins. Both of them last night testing out messages that they hope will be successful in clinching the deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The change we seek is still months and miles away and we need the good people of Texas to help us get there.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Only one of us is ready on day one to be commander in chief, ready to manage our economy and ready to defeat the Republicans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And ultimately, the Hawaiian voters gave it to Barack Obama, the native son. There was a little bit of enthusiasm, some excitement, a bit of a surge over the last couple of days or so when we saw Chelsea Clinton here. Democratic officials say that there was a rush to get to those caucus sites for some people who were going to the Clinton camp, but clearly Hawaiian voters have spoken and they have spoken for Barack Obama. Kiran.

CHETRY: That's very interesting. I mean you talk about the total difference in the voter turnout, but this year, Hawaii is very, very relevant. Every single delegate matters and so how they voted had a huge impact.

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. I mean you're talking about 20 delegates and it really, it showed neither one of the candidates came to the islands, but what was interesting is that they had some real high powered surrogates who were here and we got to know (INAUDIBLE) the sister of Barack Obama who was on the campaign trail making a clear case for brother and we also saw Chelsea Clinton dispatched here for three days. She does very well with the young vote. She had a lot of support, a lot of people who were following here, so there was a lot of excitement that was generated about this. But you can, people were talking about this moment, saying this is a chance for Hawaii to weigh in, to make a difference here. They had two stars candidates, one the native son and they really felt that they were going to deliver.

CHETRY: That's funny. They didn't come out to campaign, but you're following the campaign and you got to. Are they missing out on some fun?

MALVEAUX: Well, you know, Hawaii, can't beat Hawaii. It is a bit of fun as well, but it really has been kind of amazing to see, the enthusiasm, the excitement. There were some challenges though too. Over the last couple of hours, really those lines that you saw and there's the sense of how do we make this thing work. It's seven islands, some of these remote areas, cell phones don't work so people physically had to use land lines to call in those votes. But essentially it all came together. You're looking at an overwhelming victory for Barack Obama.

CHETRY: All right, Suzanne Malveaux, bringing it back to politics in Honolulu for us this morning. Thanks. John.

ROBERTS: If you're ever going to be covering a campaign some place where the candidates are not, Hawaii is the place to be.

John McCain is claiming victory this morning after he pulled off another sweep of his own in Wisconsin. McCain claimed more than half of the votes, 55 percent, Mike Huckabee at 37 percent. Ron Paul still hanging in there at 5 percent. He'll be joining us a little later on this morning.

In Washington State, McCain held off Huckabee 49 percent to 22 percent. McCain now says he is finally ready to declare that he will be the Republican nominee for the White House. Take a look at why. McCain's states are in red here. Mike Huckabee in the sort of pinkish color. McCain now has an estimated 918 delegates. Huckabee states again highlighted in the pink color, he has 217 delegates. Mitt Romney still hanging on to 286, 1191 now needed for the nomination. So McCain within 300 delegates. Mary Snow is covering the GOP for us live from Little Rock this morning and I expect Mary that after the results of last night, there are going to be more calls for Mike Huckabee to get out of the race today.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, John, that is really what could be expected. He said he was clearly disappointed by Wisconsin. You mentioned he got 37 percent. That was short of what the campaign was hoping for. They were hoping to get at least 40 percent in Wisconsin. Yet, Mike Huckabee insists that he is going on. He wants to go to Texas and compete there. He believes that he can really rally conservatives in that state. He also points out that he has lived there at one point. But you know, John McCain before last night's results had said that he didn't want to take anything for granted. But as you just pointed out, last night, he said even for a superstitious person, I can now say that I'm going to be the nominee of the Republican Party.

I asked Mike Huckabee about that last night. I said is he sending a message to you? Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HUCKABEE (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What's the message for his supporters? And I'd probably be saying the same thing if I were standing on his stage. But you know, this isn't about me opposing John McCain. This is about me carrying the voice for the many people in our party for whom the human life amendment, the immigration issue, changing the tax system to the fair tax, these are important issues.

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SNOW: And really what it comes down to, he feels that he should stay in this race to really stress the point that he wants to seek a human life amendment. Now Senator John McCain on the other hand, called Mike Huckabee out on his competition, saying that he admires his grit and his passion. But clearly, he is looking ahead to the general election and clearly, he is looking to compete with Senator Barack Obama. He addressed the generational gap last night when he addressed supporters.

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SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My friends, I'm not the youngest candidate, but I am the most experienced.

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SNOW: Senator John McCain in a line that has often been repeated since last night, also saying that he wants to make sure Americans are not deceived by what he said was an eloquent but empty call for change. Senator John McCain today focusing on Ohio. Mike Huckabee is going to be traveling to Texas. John.

ROBERTS: And in some way Mary, Huckabee's continued presence in the campaign does lend a certain sense of news value to it, because we're talking about McCain's big wins last night and the fact that he beat Huckabee among conservatives, so perhaps there is some value to him staying in there from that point at least. Mary Snow for us this morning from Little Rock, Arkansas. Mary, thanks very much. Kiran.

CHETRY: And so it wasn't just that Barack Obama won all three races last night. It's who he won over. We're taking a look at the exit polling coming up. Also, what (INAUDIBLE) to slow Barack Obama's momentum? She's headed next to Texas and so are we. We're going to be taking a look at what voters there are looking for in the next president. We're live in Austin next on AMERICAN MORNING.

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CHETRY: Senators Obama and Clinton head next to Texas. They'll be debating right here on CNN tomorrow night live from Austin. And Texas is a major prize, a total of 120 delegates up for grabs. So who is the typical Texas Democrat? Well, AMERICAN MORNING's Ed Lavandera is in Texas bright and early at the Texas state house with a look at - and a look at what these voters are looking for as they try to make up their minds between the two senators.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Kiran. The rules for awarding delegates in this state are so complicated, much more complicated than I could possibly explain right here. So it really forces these campaigns and will force them over the next couple of weeks not just to target specific regions of the state, but in many cases, specific people and specific neighborhoods.

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LAVANDERA (voice-over): Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are trying to hit the jackpot with Texas Democratic voters. Pull the slot machine lever here and you'll almost never get three of a kind. Voters are as diverse as the state's landscape. Elvia Longoria is a 41-year old stay at home mother who worries about the rising cost of health insurance and she says she knows who can address it.

ELVIA LONGORIA, TEXAS VOTER: I would love a woman to be running this country and not just because she's a woman, but I know she has experience.

LAVANDERA: Clinton is focusing on the large Hispanic vote, particularly in El Paso and south Texas.

CLINTON: And I am proud to be part of the El Paso, Texas family.

LAVANDERA: When Obama steps up to the Texas slot machine, voters like Victor Allen are pulling for him. A retiree who says Obama is a throw back to the good old days.

VICTOR ALLEN, TEXAS VOTER: He reminds me a little bit of Kennedy, the young person that wants to be for everybody and for everybody, even the low man on the totem pole.

LAVANDERA: Obama's strategy is to focus on major urban areas like Dallas and Houston. With a special emphasis on getting voters to the polls, a record turnout is expected, a sign most voters are happy with their choices.

ED MEYER, TEXAS VOTER: And Barack Obama's message of hope is wonderful and I think it really resonates for me personally as well. But more than that, it's Hillary's experience and her solution focused experience which is she can (ph) really get the job done.

LAVANDERA: Solutions, it's a word Clinton embraces.

CLINTON: We have a lot of work to do and I know that El Paso understands that picking a president is one of the most important jobs.

OBAMA: If you are ready for change, we can go ahead and tell the lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over.

LAVANDERA: And that kind of talk excites Louis Guerra, a small business owner who supports a guest worker program as part of immigration reform.

LOUIS GUERRA, TEXAS VOTER: I want a fresh approach to these things. I want someone who is new to it because there are some big issues to be tackled and so let's try a new approach.

LAVANDERA: Slot machine wheels are (INAUDIBLE) in Texas. The question is, which candidate will cash out with the most delegates?

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LAVANDERA: And if you look back to four years ago, a breakdown of the typical Texas Democratic voter was more women than men, about 52 percent white, 24 percent Latino, 21 percent African-American. The typical voter made between $30 and $75,000 a year. Of course all of that could change dramatically this time around because as I mentioned, a huge voter turnout expected on March 4th -- Kiran.

CHETRY: El Lavandera for us, I guess I should say dark and early in Austin, Texas because you beat the sun. Thanks for being with us.

Also join us right here on CNN, Obama and Clinton debate. They go head to head, live from the University of Texas in Austin. It's tomorrow night, 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN. John.

ROBERTS: So how did McCain and Obama pull off those victories - by making inroads into their opponent's bases. Let's take a look at some of the exit polling data from Wisconsin, starting with the Democrats from last night. Barack Obama won handily among men, 67 percent to 31 percent. That's a constituency that Obama has been willing fairly consistently. But take a look at this. They split women, 50-50 and among white women here, which has been Hillary Clinton's core constituency, they narrowed the gap here, only 5 points separating Obama and Clinton, she winning that one with 52 percent. He getting 54 percent.

But here's another significant figure. Take a look at this. He won 54 percent of all white voters and 91 percent of African-American voters. Hillary Clinton had done very well with white voters and she had claimed that African-Americans were a core constituency of hers, but clearly they've been going to Barack Obama.

Now here's some other interesting data as well. Hillary Clinton had been winning among lower income Americans, but take a look at what happened last night. Barack Obama among people making less than $50,000 won 54 to 44 percent and he also won among people who make more than $50,000 a year and that's been a core constituency of his. So he's winning all income levels here. This is a bit of a shocker here and this could be a factor going into the race in Ohio, where there's a lot of union membership. Among households that have union members, he won 51 percent to 45 percent. That's among actual union members, so that is a big cut into a core constituency of hers.

Let's take a look at the Republican side of the coin now, John McCain won both now, Washington State and Wisconsin last night. Conservatives, McCain beat Huckabee 48 percent to 44 percent. That's in over all conservatives. But take a look at this here. Among people who describe themselves as very conservative, Mike Huckabee still wins that constituency. So even though John McCain winning overall conservatives, Mike Huckabee still winning among very conservative voters, which is an indication that McCain has still got some work to do to win them over.

And as far as McCain's voters go, 35 percent said the war in Iraq was their number one issue; 33 percent said the economy was the issue that's most important to them. And now let's take it back to Kiran who's got some news about oil prices -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Crude oil prices closing a record $100.10 a barrel in New York yesterday. This was the first time ever that it closed above the $100 mark, but it did retreat on speculation that the stockpile of the U.S. oil supply rose, will rise actually for a sixth week. So we're going to have more on that. Ali Velshi is following it all for us. We hear he brought the barrel out John, so he's going to tell us what impact these changing and high prices are going to have on your pocketbook, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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CHETRY: Democrats are getting ready for a fight in Texas and Ohio. Hillary Clinton's campaign considers the March 4th primaries their firewall and perhaps even more so after back to back wins, 10 in a row now for Barack Obama. So the question is, is Barack Obama fireproof? CNN contributor and "New York Daily News" columnist Errol Louis joins us once again. First of all, if you were advising the Clinton campaign, what is the strategy now?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, unfortunately, it's not a pretty one and it's a little risky. But they have to kind of knock Obama off his stride. I think you're going to see fireworks in tomorrow's debates. They've got to try to get him to make a mistake. What you're seeing happening is a lot of base of Clinton support is migrating away. They're walking away from her and they've got to stop that. By pushing this notion that he's not - he's nothing but a speech maker. There's not a lot of substance, it doesn't seem to be working. They're going to have to try to something else.

CHETRY: So it seems that all the punditry last night was saying, well, she's going to have to get even more negative. She's going to have get even more negative and maybe get a little nasty. That hasn't worked for her. I mean...

LOUIS: No it hasn't.

CHETRY: When she's done that before, we've seen a drop and in fact in the last debate, when they went after each other, that didn't seem to bode well.

LOUIS: That's right and all of the rules have changed and that's been the problem for the Clinton campaign all along. She's been running a great campaign and all of those speeches would work if this was 2004. But it's not and the voters are in a different mood. They say that they want change. When you ask them, do you value experience, the polls say that those are Clinton voters. But more people seem to say that they value change and they want a different kind of politics. They don't want to see the predictable attacks. They don't want to see the sort of parsing of words and the talking about the mechanics of the race as opposed to the issues. So there's going to be I think a real serious conversation in the Clinton camp today. There's got to be, because they tried what usually works just this last weekend. They tried some negative attacks and the polls, the exit polls that lake- breaking voters, people who made up their mind in their three days, most of them went for Obama.

CHETRY: Boy, when you take a look - and let's hold up, because we got these exit polling data out of Wisconsin, Democrats, gender and race and when you take a look, the second to the last line really says a lot. Among whites in general, especially in a state like Wisconsin, they have a - they make a lot of money. It's a pretty, well, relatively affluent state. You have 54 percent for Barack Obama and 45 for Clinton and it's just a runaway among black voters, 91 percent versus 8 percent. Where's her constituency then?

LOUIS: Well, again, they're walking away and about a year ago, I sat through a focus group with what were supposed to be Clinton voters. They were liberal white voters from a section of New York City and it was surprising, because what it showed was that a lot of them were willing and ready to look for somebody else although they were inclined to go with Clinton and that's kind of been the story with this entire election. She started off with a lot of baseline support. She's everybody's second choice on one level. But her core support are taking a second look and they're thinking, well, you know what, maybe change does beat experience.

CHETRY: The other interesting thing is it seems that race is not as big a factor. I mean there was a lot of concern it seemed months ago that will white voters really vote for an African-American or they say they will and then they won't. We've seen in state after state and it's really proving not to be the case.

LOUIS: That's been I think the sort of the great bat (ph) story of this entire election cycle is that all of those assumptions have just been exploding. And you've got this candidate who's winning in Utah and he's winning in Alaska and he's winning in states that don't have any black voters to speak of. And it's just changed a lot of what we thought we knew about who will support whom.

CHETRY: Very interesting, a lot to keep watching and you're right. That debate is going to be a much watch on Thursday night to see what happens, see the two of them react to one another and what they say, Errol, we'll see you in a few minutes. Errol Louis, a CNN contributor, columnist for the "New York Daily News," thanks.

LOUIS: Thank you.

CHETRY: John.

ROBERTS: Fifty six minutes after the hour now. You're watching breaking news here on CNN. Indonesia rocked by a major earthquake this morning, not far from where that 2004 earthquake hit, the one that devastated Indonesia and other countries. Find out where tsunami warnings are now out. That's coming up.

Plus, stocks slide, oil prices surge past $100 a barrel. Ali Velshi watching the impact on markets overseas and what we can expect in the markets here at home. That's coming up in just a couple of minutes, right here on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

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