US election at-a-glance: 8 Feb

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DAY IN A NUTSHELL

The day after Mitt Romney's departure effectively gives the Republican nomination to John McCain, speculation begins as to whom Mr McCain will pick to be his running-mate. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama campaign in Washington state, ahead of tomorrow's primary. The Clinton campaign vows to boycott news channel MSNBC after one of its reporters refers to the campaign's use of Chelsea Clinton as "pimping".

KEY QUOTES

"To win in November, Mr McCain needs a strong economically conservative message. Picking a vice presidential nominee who can credibly champion that message is the first and perhaps best indicator he can give voters how he will govern if he makes it to the Oval Office." Pat Toomey, president of the fiscally conservative Club for Growth

I think the Republican Party has expressed almost uniformly an interest in having her as the nominee Chief Obama strategiston Hillary Clinton <a class="" href="/1/hi/world/americas/7233647.stm"> At-a-glance: 7 Feb</a>

"From a practical standpoint, I think former President Clinton and Vice President Gore showed us [presidential and vice presidential candidates] don't have to be regionally different." John McCain

"People have a limited amount of information about [Barack Obama's] record, what he voted for, and I think those kinds of things will be new information in a general election campaign. And [Hillary Clinton]... has already been vetted and already tested."Mark Penn, Clinton campaign chief strategist

"I think the Republican Party has expressed almost uniformly an interest in having [Hillary Clinton] as the nominee, and they'd love to repeat a lot of the same controversies and explore new ones."David Axelrod, Obama campaign chief strategist

NUMBER NEWS

Little polling has been done in the post-Super Tuesday primary states, so the arrival of two surveys of Wisconsin voters was extremely welcome today.

The polls - from ARG - suggest that Barack Obama is trailing on 41%, nine points behind Hillary Clinton on 50%, with 8% undecided.

Some observers had been of the opinion that the state would be fertile territory for Mr Obama, whose home-state of Illinois adjoins Wisconsin, but this poll indicates that he has a lot of ground to make up.

The ARG Republican poll - conducted before the suspension of Mitt Romney's campaign - has John McCain on 51%, comfortably ahead of Mr Romney on 29%, with Ron Paul third on 7% and Mike Huckabee way behind on 4%.

DAILY PICTURE

Bill Clinton attracts a fan while on the campaign trail for his wife Hillary in New Orleans, Louisiana