Many dynamics at work in primaries

Washington: In Pennsylvania's hard-fought Democratic presidential primary, there will be a winner and a loser. But the winner might not be the one with the most votes.

With neither Hillary Rodham Clinton nor Barack Obama able to secure the nomination without support from the so-called "superdelegates" who will cast decisive votes, many dyn-amics are at work beyond who comes out on top in one day of balloting.

In what might seem like a paradox, the Clinton victory predicted by nearly all public opinion polls might turn out to be a loss if she doesn't win by a significant margin. And if Obama keeps the results closer than some surveys suggest, he could be considered victorious -- unless it appears that Clinton's campaign has succeeded in casting doubt on his credentials to be commander-in-chief or his ability to win support in autumn from white, working-class voters.

Convention

"The margin of the vote is equally as important [as who posts the highest vote total]," said former Colorado Governor Roy Romer, one of the nearly 800 party activists and leaders whose votes as superdelegates will put the winning nominee over the top at this summer's party convention.

About 300 of the superdelegates are still uncommitted, including Romer, who also is former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and many of them will pore over the finer details of yesterday's results to gauge how each candidate might fare in autumn and, as a result, which one deserves the nomination. "I keep absorbing information," Romer said.