Campaign '08

NEW YORK (CBS) ― Hillary Clinton repelled a strong challenge from Barack Obama in both the New York and New Jersey primaries on Tuesday night. Then she took delegate-rich California. One would think she's in the driver's seat in the race for the Democratic nod for president.

One should think again.

Obama is poised to get a big chunk of New York's 232 Democratic delegates because a large majority of them are split based on the vote in each of the state's congressional districts. The same is true in California, even though Clinton was the projected winner shortly after midnight on the East Coast.

Clinton leads the overall delegate race, but the pie still needs to be sliced up based on the projected outcomes in several states. More will be known on Wednesday morning.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting in New York, Clinton had 57 percent of the vote to Obama's 40 percent. 

Clinton won all but one county -- Tompkins, which includes Cornell University and Ithaca College. She won Manhattan by 54 percent to 44 percent, Long Island by about 62 percent to 35 percent, and Westchester by 52 percent to 45 percent.

"Tonight we are hearing voices of people across America, people of all ages, of all colors, all faiths and all walks of life," Clinton said at a rally in New York City. "People on the day shift, the night shift, the late shift ... all those who aren't in the headlines but who always have written America's story.

"Tonight in record numbers, you voted not just to make history but to remake America," she said.

Turnout, as expected, was huge for Democrats. More than 1.7 million of the New York's 5 million registered Democrats voted Tuesday, with nearly all of the precincts reporting. That's far more than the 715,000 who voted in the 2004 primary. 

Clinton was tested by Obama in most heavily black neighborhoods in New York City and liberal upstate stretches with college campuses in his campaign to be the nation's first black president. Obama led strongly in some of those mostly black neighborhoods.

The scenario was the same in New Jersey, a battleground state that seemed to be up for grabs heading into Tuesday. With 78 percent of the vote tallied, Clinton topped Obama by 9 percent, or 53 percent to 44 percent. 

Many in the Clinton camp were pleased.

"It's a great night," said New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, the national co-chair of the Clinton campaign, speaking from the Manhattan Center in New York.

"This is a good win in New Jersey not withstanding Sen. Obama spent a lot of time there and a lot of resources there."

At stake for the Democrats in the Garden State are 107 of 127 total delegates, which will be awarded proportionally. The other 20 delegates -- often referred to as super delegates -- are party and elected officials who can support whomever they choose, regardless of Tuesday's outcome.

Obama avoided losing the entire tri-state area by edging Clinton in Connecticut, an upset of sorts. On the other hand, even with Sen. Ted Kennedy and John Kerry's endorsements, Obama failed to beat Clinton in Massachusetts.

A WNBC/Marist Poll last week found most New Yorkers felt Clinton was best able to handle the economy, the Iraq war and health care, but Obama embodied the best chance for undefined "change."

"Even though Barack Obama has had a stupendous performance in this entire primary season, and the pride is clear in everyone in this community, even in spite of this Sen. Clinton has done a little better because she is the senator who they have access to," said David Paterson, New York's first black lieutenant governor, who has been working with the Clinton campaign.

At a Westchester County elementary school Tuesday, Clinton, with her husband and daughter by her side, signed autographs on sample ballots for voters and offered some wisdom.

"If voters ask themselves who they think would be the best president, and if Democrats ask who they think would be the best candidate to win, I feel really good about the answers to those questions," she said.

The Chappaqua school was the place Clinton cast her first vote during her 2000 Senate run.

Of New York's 232 Democratic delegates, 151 will be assigned based on the vote in each of the state's 29 congressional districts; each district has 5 or 6 delegates. The remaining 81 will be divided based on the statewide popular vote. A Democratic candidate must get 15 percent of the vote in a congressional district to earn delegates.

Clinton and Obama have fought tooth and nail ever since the primary season started. The intensity was ratcheted up a notch on Tuesday as 24 states held primaries in a day unlike any other in U.S. political history.

"It's a very humbling and overwhelming experience to cast my vote," Hillary Clinton said.

Bill Clinton was beaming.

"It's one of the proudest moments of my life," he said.

The Democratic contest in the two dozen Super Tuesday states was so tight that both sides pulled out all the stops.

On Monday night, Team Hillary made over 12 million calls to voters from phone banks. Millions more were made on Tuesday.

The message was familiar: Get out there and vote.

Democratic voters also got calls from Obama supporters Chris Rock and Robert DeNiro. Obama tried reverse psychology to get his voters to the polls.

"Senator Clinton has to be the prohibitive favorite because of her name recognition but we've been steadily chipping away," Obama said Tuesday. 

It remains to be seen who took the contentious race in Harlem, Clinton Country coming into the year but up for grabs heading into Tuesday. CBS 2 HD spoke with several voters and came away thinking it was too close to call.

Some voters sounded convinced Hillary's experience would ultimately give her the nod. Others seemed caught up in Obama's rock star persona.

"I voted for Barack and what a thrill," one voter said.

"Hillary Clinton because I like what she stands for," said another.

One thing both candidates seem to agree on is that Tuesday was just the beginning. The hunt for delegates will continue for some time.

CBS 2 HD political reporter Marcia Kramer and WCBSTV.com's Jeff Capellini contributed to this report.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)