In U.S. White House race, it's delegates that count

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - In a hotly contested U.S. presidential race, votes are nice -- but it's delegates to this summer's nominating conventions that count.

While the Democratic and Republican presidential contenders dash coast-to-coast to hunt votes in 24 state contests on Tuesday, their campaign aides are focused on the state-by-state battle to accumulate convention delegates who select the nominee.

More than half of all Democratic delegates will be up for grabs on Tuesday, and about 40 percent of Republican delegates are at stake in the biggest single day of presidential primary voting in campaign history.

"It's useful to win states, but states don't vote -- delegates do," said Harold Ickes, who is heading up the delegate operation for New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.

"This is very much a race for delegates at this point," said Ickes, a longtime Clinton insider and aide to President Bill Clinton.

The delegate chase is particularly crucial for the Democratic contenders, Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who are running neck-and-neck for the right to represent the party in November's presidential election.

Unlike Republicans, Democrats distribute delegates among candidates in proportion to their vote statewide and in individual congressional districts. As a result, candidates can come away with big chunks of delegates even in states they lose.

In a tight race like the one between Clinton and Obama, the rules ensure no one is likely to get too big a lead and the battle is almost certain to extend to later contests in Virginia, Maryland, Wisconsin and beyond.