Posted on 02/09/2008 7:39:14 PM PST by jdm
Barack Obama pummeled Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the latest round of their battle for the White House nomination on Saturday, earning momentum and valuable delegates with big wins in Washington and Nebraska caucuses.
Obama registered comfortable victories in both states, outscoring Clinton by margins of roughly 2 to 1, according to media projections.
His triumphs will boost the Illinois senator's campaign to be the country's first black president, after a fierce Super Tuesday duel that saw the two share the honors.
It was not immediately clear how many delegates Obama picked up from his victories on Saturday, with the two locked in a tussle for the 2,025 delegates need to win the party's nomination for November's presidential elections.
Pete Crane, a caucus-goer for more than 30 years, said the turnout at a caucus in Bremerton, Washington, was "by far" the biggest crowd he had seen.
"It was an incredible crowd, probably three times what it was four years ago," Crane told AFP. The precinct went 32 to 12 Obama.
Results from the Republican Party's Kansas caucuses on Saturday boosted the flagging campaign of Mike Huckabee, who won the state with some 60 percent of the vote to 24 percent for John McCain.
The Vietnam war hero, McCain, 71, is virtually assured of the party's nomination for the November elections, but Huckabee, an ordained Baptist preacher, has been doing well in conservative, rural states.
"I majored in miracles, and I still believe in them," he told supporters Saturday, warning McCain "the game is on."
In a sign that McCain is still viewed with suspicion by many Republicans, a straw poll taken at a conference of conservative activists handed a slim victory to former rival Mitt Romney who dropped out of the race on Thursday.
With the results from Saturday's vote in Louisiana still to come, Clinton and Obama were already eyeing new battlegrounds. Maine, the country's northeastern-most state, votes on Sunday to decide 34 delegates.
Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC, all hold primaries on Tuesday where another 200 delegates are at stake. But the next big date will be March 4 when the two will be hoping to mine a rich seam of delegates in Texas and Ohio.
Clinton, 60, and Obama, 46, were both addressing a key Democratic dinner in Richmond, Virginia late Saturday, the first time they were sharing a platform since Super Tuesday.
A tally by independent pollsters RealClearPolitics on Saturday put Clinton, bidding to the country's first woman president, marginally ahead in the delegate count, with 1,076 to Obama's 1,015.
A national Newsweek poll out Friday had Obama surpassing Clinton's once-overwhelming lead for the first time.
It gave Obama 42 percent support compared to 41 percent for Clinton. Nevertheless, in the survey of 1,394 registered voters, a large 17 percent remained undecided, underscoring the need for both candidates to continue fighting for support, voter by voter.
In Washington, Obama's soaring message of change had registered with voters at caucuses across the northwestern state.
"I'm a big fan of Senator Clinton and I thought long and hard about my decision, but ultimately I think Senator Obama is going to unify and govern in a way that will be very positive for the nation," said caucus-goer Paul Steven-Miller, a former White House policy adviser to ex-president Bill Clinton.
Obama meanwhile stood favored to outperform Clinton in Virginia and Maryland, in part due to the high number of African-American voters.
Virginia Governor Tim Kaine said he endorsed Obama because "he is a unifier in times of bitter division. He is an agent of change at a time when our nation needs change."
Anyone have an updated delegate count?
I can almost hear Hillary screaming: “I’m melting, melting, ..... , you wicked little kaffir—its not your turn!,....I’m melting...”
I think she is more beatable with much higher negatives, and not as likely to get us nuked as B. Hussein most certainly would. So as odd as it seems, I am in the weird place of actually rooting for Hildabeast on this one.
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It is actually bad that Obama is winnng, because he is the stronger candidate in November. He is a weak applicant for the job, but he will win.
Look at the figures for numbers of primary voters in the various states. There are about twice as many Democrats as Republicans. To say that the Republicans face an uphill fight is putting it mildly.
This time around the Dems will have a popular celebrity-candidate, and Republicans will have a superannuated, crusty old RINO who can’t even beat Huckabee. Buy the way, Huckabee is winning most of the votes this evening.
Damn? And here I was hoping that Hillary would win so that she could bring the silverware back to the Whitehouse!!!!!!
It boils down to the fact that Obama can beat McCain, whereas perhaps Hillary can’t.
So sad & so true & so predictable.
“The DNC media has decided to knock off Hillary.”
It is called payback and Howard Dean is engineering it with the Kennedy’s and Gore.
LOL
Even democrats are saying they have had enough of the Clintons in the whitehouse.
Oh well, back to the limousine liberal enclave of Manhattan were all her biggest fans are. She’s been annointed Senator for life there. Let them deal with her.
“I think she is more beatable with much higher negatives”
Are you saying you actually want McCain to win???
I don’t want to set of the tin foil hat crowd, but I’ll bet another terrorist attack on our soil would send the glassy eyed Obamaphiles running for cover and the swooning soccer moms would decide they want to be security moms again.
I don’t think the country is going to be this gaga
over Obama in the general election.
The man is radical left with no vision. If he’s elected
I’m heading for the Artic.
Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!
Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.
Wake up - sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed.
Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead. She’s gone where the goblins go,
Below - below - below. Yo-ho, let’s open up and sing and ring the bells out.
Ding Dong’ the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low.
Let them know
The Wicked Witch is dead!
Mayor
As Mayor of the Munchkin City, In the County of the Land of Oz, I welcome you most regally.
Barrister
But we’ve got to verify it legally, to see
Mayor
To see?
Barrister
If she
Mayor
If she?
Barrister
Is morally, ethic’lly
Father No.1
Spiritually, physically
Father No. 2
Positively, absolutely
Munchkins
Undeniably and reliably Dead
Coroner
As Coroner I must aver, I thoroughly examined her.
And she’s not only merely dead, she’s really most sincerely dead.
Mayor
Then this is a day of Independence For all the Munchkins and their descendants
Barrister
If any.
Mayor
Yes, let the joyous news be spread The wicked Old Witch at last is dead!
Obama also won Louisiana and the Virgin Islands’ 2 delegates tonight.
Huckabee looks like he’s also the winner in Washington and Louisiana.
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