Obama Sweeps Three States, Huckabee Wins Two
Democratic Senator Barack Obama had a very good night Saturday, even if it didn't generate massive numbers of delegates. He won the Louisiana primary, and took the caucuses in Washington state and Nebraska. He even won the caucus on the Virgin Islands.
All his margins of victory were substantial. In all, 161 delegates were at stake in the night's contests. The Associated Press reports that Obama won 72 last night and Clinton 40. Overall, Clinton had 1,095 delegates to 1,070 for Obama, counting so-called superdelegates who have declared a perference. They are party leaders not chosen at primaries or caucuses, free to change their minds. A total of 2,025 delegates is required to win the nomination at the national convention in Denver.
Meanwhile, conservative Republicans showed they aren't going to get in line behind Sen. John McCain quite that fast. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won the Kansas caucus handily and all the 38 delegates up for grabs. But while he also won Louisiana, he failed to get the required 50 percent needed to win any delegates outright. (He narrowly beat McCain 43 percent to 42 percent.) Instead they will be awarded next weekend at the state convention.
McCain did win the Washington state caucuses - barely. He was the preferred choice of 26 percent of those attending the caucuses. Huckabee was close behind at 24 percent, as was ron Paul at 21 percent. Perhaps the clearest sign of dissatisfaction with McCain was that former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney, who suspended his campaign on Thursday, won 17 percent as well.
7:56 AM ET | 02-10-2008 | permalink

