U.S. Democrats in dead heat ahead of big vote

By Ellen Wulfhorst

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were locked in a near dead heat two days before the biggest presidential voting so far while John McCain tried to nail down the Republican nomination for the White House.

With 24 states holding nominating contests from coast to coast on Tuesday, the candidates crisscrossed the country, leading rallies and urging supporters to get out and vote.

The Democratic race had narrowed to a nearly a draw in recent national polls while McCain hoped to win enough delegates to the national convention to effectively be the party's presidential nominee in the November election.

Obama held a slight lead in California, the biggest prize of all where Clinton once led handily, and was virtually tied with Clinton in New Jersey and Missouri -- three of the states voting on "Super Tuesday" -- in a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Sunday.

While the two people seeking to be the Democratic choice were vying to win the most delegates, they also were making the argument of being the most electable candidate to face McCain in November.

Clinton, the New York senator who was a major target of conservatives since being first lady in the 1990s, said her record was well known and she had already weathered heated attacks while Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, was still an unknown quantity.

"My opponent hasn't had to go through that kind of baptism by fire," she told a St. Louis rally. "This is going to be open season once again, and we need to nominate someone with the experience and the fortitude and the know-how to take whatever they send our way and send it right back."

Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, pointed to independents and young people voting for him and said he would not have to defend a Senate vote authorizing the war in Iraq.