Obama beats Clinton in Mississippi primary as expected

WASHINGTON, March 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Democratic Senator Barack Obama of Illinois beat Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York in the party's presidential primary in Mississippi on Tuesday as expected, preliminary results showed.

With 26 percent of the precincts reporting, Obama led Clinton 52 percent to 45 percent.

Obama, an African-American, had been expected to win, given the demographic factors favorable to him.

African-Americans account for 36 percent of Mississippi's population, higher than any other state, and blacks constitute more than half of the Democratic electorate.

Obama has swept states with large African-American electorates so far and he has been leading by between six and 24 percentage points in polls since last week.

In Tuesday's race, he was expected to collect a majority of the33 delegates at stake, but Clinton would also garner a share because the delegate allocation is proportional, not winner taking all.

Mississippi holds open primaries, which means independents and Republicans can vote in the Democratic contest.

Exit polls indicated that Obama was winning the votes of independents and Republicans who crossed over and cast ballots in Democratic contests.

During an interview with CNN, Obama thanked the voters in Mississippi.

When asked if he thought his contest against Clinton had gotten "too nasty," he replied:

"I've been careful to say that I think Senator Clinton is a capable person and that should she win the nomination, obviously I would support her," Obama said.

"I'm not sure we've been getting that same approach from the Clinton campaign," he added.

However, Obama said he's sure Democrats can reunite because the nation needs "a significant shift from the Bush policies" and Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presumptive nominee for president, "represents a continuation."

On Tuesday, McCain also won the basically uncontested primary on the Republican side in Mississippi.

Since McCain has already clinched the Republican nomination, there is not much attention to the Republican race.