In White House race, it's delegates that count

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a hotly contested presidential race, votes are nice -- but it's delegates to this summer's nominating conventions that count.

While the Democratic and Republican presidential contenders dash coast-to-coast to hunt votes in 24 state contests on Tuesday, their campaign aides are focused on the state-by-state battle to accumulate convention delegates who select the nominee.

More than half of all Democratic delegates will be up for grabs on Tuesday, and about 40 percent of Republican delegates are at stake in the biggest single day of presidential primary voting in campaign history.

"It's useful to win states, but states don't vote -- delegates do," said Harold Ickes, who is heading up the delegate operation for New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.

"This is very much a race for delegates at this point," said Ickes, a longtime Clinton insider and aide to President Bill Clinton.

The delegate chase is particularly crucial for the Democratic contenders, Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who are running neck-and-neck for the right to represent the party in November's presidential election.

Unlike Republicans, Democrats distribute delegates among candidates in proportion to their vote statewide and in individual congressional districts. As a result, candidates can come away with big chunks of delegates even in states they lose.

In a tight race like the one between Clinton and Obama, the rules ensure no one is likely to get too big a lead and the battle is almost certain to extend to later contests in Virginia, Maryland, Wisconsin and beyond.

It could even extend to the August convention, when the delegates will cast their votes to elect the party's nominee -- although few party activists expect that to happen.

"In a two-candidate race, it's going to be very hard to deliver a knockout blow with elected delegates," Ickes said. "On the other hand, once someone gets a serious lead in delegates, it's going to be very hard to overtake them."

Democrats require 2,025 delegates to secure the party's presidential nomination. Republicans need 1,191 delegates to clinch the nomination.

The effect of the Democratic rules was evident in earlier state contests. While Clinton won the most votes in Nevada, Obama managed to win a projected 13 delegates to her 12 because of his strength in rural areas around the state.

Clinton also narrowly won New Hampshire, but the two candidates tied in delegates. Obama's win in Iowa gave him only one more projected delegate than Clinton.

"We're trying to do as well as we can in every state," said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, who added next week's winner "will be very clear on February 6 in terms of the amount of delegates won."

REPUBLICANS DIFFERENT