James Doran
in New York

Soft snow fell on New York and New Jersey yesterday, while unusually frigid winds whipped across parts of California - yet this unexpected winter chill was not the only thing to send a shiver down the spine of Hillary Clinton.

These regions were supposed to be in the bag for the Clinton camp as the presidential primary battle reaches fever pitch. Instead, a CNN poll showed Clinton and her rival, Barack Obama, in a statistical tie with 49% and 46% respectively nationally.

Today is Super Tuesday, when both Republicans and Democrats will fight it out in 22 states - a record for a single day - and voters hope to discover who their parties will nominate to run for president.

Senators Obama and Clinton stopped in Connecticut and Massachusetts yesterday. Before a planned appearance on David Letterman's TV talk show, Clinton had an emotional reunion with a colleague from her legal career.

At a campaign event in the Yale Child Study Centre, where the would-be president first pursued her interest in child advocacy, Penn Rhodeen, a lawyer who worked with her as a student, recalled Clinton turning up at his door in purple bellbottoms.

"It was so 1972. Here is the abiding truth we know, you have always been a champion for children. Welcome home, dear friend. We are so proud of you," he said.

Clinton at one point wiped her eyes but, unlike her tearful moment in New Hampshire, her voice never broke and she tried make light of her emotion.

Whoever wins his or her party's primary vote in a particular state today wins a number of delegates from that state and the one who receives the most delegates nationwide will become the party's candidate to run for the White House.

For the Republicans, it is a winner-takes-all race to the finish line today, with John McCain, the Arizona senator and US Navy veteran, holding a commanding lead.

For the Democrats, it is all about momentum, the magic "M" word, and who can gain the most. In a CBS poll, the Democrat pair picked up 41% of primary voters each, a clear sign that Obama has picked up support in many key states.

The Republican contest is less exciting as McCain has enormous support all over the map, an impressive comeback from the start of the primary season. Yesterday he was taking his campaign to Massachusetts, where his main rival, Mitt Romney was governor.

The Arizona senator looks to do well among moderate Republicans after his victory in Florida last week led former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to quit the race and back him. McCain also has backing from Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of California.

Romney, a millionaire former businessman, continued to claim McCain was weak on economic issues and a maverick. He said hardcore Republicans were telling him: "We don't want Senator McCain; we want a conservative."

Campaigning in Boston, McCain defended his record but added: "As president of the United States, I will preserve my proud conservative Republican credentials, but I will reach across the aisle and work together for the good of this country."

Sunday was a difficult day on the campaign trail as something besides politics was playing in front rooms all over the country. The Super Bowl stole all headlines and relegated the candidates to less prominent positions on the front pages.

One other story stood out, however. The Democrats' leading families are divided over whether to choose Obama or Clinton, a blow for the former first lady who thought she could count on the party money machine to back her.

Maria Shriver, the wife of the California governor and herself a Kennedy, appeared at an Oprah Winfrey rally for Obama. Her move was the latest in what has become a nationwide feud among prominent Democrats with spouses, siblings and children of families like the Kennedys, the Jacksons and the Rubins divided between the pair.

Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin has gone for Clinton while his son James has gone for Obama; the Rev Jesse Jackson has chosen Obama while his wife, Jacqueline, has gone for Clinton.

Loretta and Linda Sanchez, the only sisters in the House of Representatives, have endorsed Clinton and Obama, respectively. Penny Pritzker, a Chicago philanthropist, serves as Obama's finance chairman even as her brother, Jay Robert, holds fund-raisers for Clinton.

Tomorrow morning we will probably know which Republican will be running for president, and it will probably be John McCain. We might not be able to say the same for the Democrat race.