Democratic hopefuls clash in seven states

Voters headed to the polls in seven states yesterday on the biggest day of the Democratic presidential race so far, with front-runner John Kerry hoping for a strong showing that could knock some rivals out of the race.

Voters in Missouri, South Carolina, Delaware, Arizona, New Mexico, North Dakota and Oklahoma cast ballots in the race to find a challenger to President George W. Bush, with 269 delegates to this summer's nominating convention at stake.

Mr Kerry, on a roll since starting the race with big wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, is leading or near the top in polls in all seven states, putting him on the cusp of a sweep that would give his campaign a huge burst of momentum.

But rivals John Edwards and Wesley Clark hope to halt Mr Kerry's surge in South Carolina and Oklahoma, respectively, giving their campaigns new life and extending the race for at least a few weeks and possibly into early March.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. EST 1200 GMT yesterday in Missouri, South Carolina and Delaware, with polling places in most other states opening an hour later.

The voting yesterday will offer the first national test for the candidates, who spent almost all of January battling in Iowa and New Hampshire, largely white and rural states that hosted the first two nominating tests. Yesterday, candidates will compete in the first contest in the South and the first in a state with a large black population, South Carolina; and the first contests in states with large Hispanic populations, Arizona and New Mexico.

Mr Kerry, a Massachusetts senator, is under pressure to prove he can win on more unfamiliar terrain in the South and West, and in states with a more moderate electorate than in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Mr Edwards, a senator from North Carolina, has admitted he must win in South Carolina to stay in the race, and a new Reuters/MSNBC/Zogby poll shows him with a narrow lead over Kerry.