Obama sweeps races
By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON -- Senator Barack Obama scored a clean sweep in Saturday's Democratic nominating contests from the West Coast to the Caribbean, giving him a burst of momentum in a Democratic campaign where every delegate has become crucial to capturing the nomination.
On the Republican side, a defiant Mike Huckabee easily won the GOP caucuses in Kansas and was projected as the narrow winner in the Louisiana primary, picking up support from social conservatives to best his party's front-runner, Senator John McCain, and giving a breath of life to the former Arkansas governor's uphill campaign. Huckabee and McCain were locked in a race that was too close to call early today in the Washington state caucuses.
Obama won the Nebraska and Washington caucuses by greater than two-to-one margins against Senator Hillary Clinton and easily captured the Louisiana primary by a double-digit margin with heavy support among African-American voters. Obama also swamped Clinton in the US Virgin Islands caucuses. But because of the proportional awarding of delegates in the Democratic contests, the two contenders remain locked in a close battle for the 2,025 delegates needed to secure the party's nomination.
"We won north, we won south, we won in between,'' a jubilant Obama told a Democratic Party dinner last night in Virginia. "And I believe we can win Virginia,'' he added to cheers and shouts of "Yes, we can!'' his campaign mantra.
The attention now moves to Maine, where Democrats will hold caucuses today, and to Tuesday's "Potomac Primary,'' in which Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia will hold primaries. Obama is leading in polls in Virginia and Maryland, and is expected to win in the District, so the Clinton campaign is banking heavily on wins in bigger states next month to keep her in the running.
While the Obama campaign celebrated, the Clinton camp sought to downplay Obama's successes last night, even before the votes were counted. "The Obama campaign has dramatically outspent our campaign in these three states, saturating the airwaves with 30 and 60 second ads,"' the campaign said in a memo to reporters. "Although the next several states that hold nominating contests this month are more favorable to the Obama campaign, we will continue to compete in them and hope to secure as many delegates as we can before the race turns to Ohio, Texas, and Pennsylvania.''
The Illinois senator has done overwhelmingly well among black voters, helping him score victories in the South and giving him an edge in the primaries coming up Tuesday. But Clinton has done very well among Latinos voters -- capturing California largely because of the two-thirds of the Hispanic vote there she received -- and her campaign expects the New York lawmaker to have an advantage in Texas because of the Latino vote there.
Heading into yesterday's contests, Clinton held a small lead over Obama in the delegate count, 1,055 to 998, according to an Associated Press tally, which includes the results of primaries and caucuses, plus a survey of unpledged "superdelegates." But Obama's campaign said last night that after his wins, he leads Clinton by about 70 delegates among those awarded in actual contests.
Obama can also claim wins in the popular vote in 18 states to 10 states for Clinton -- with votes still being counted in New Mexico from Tuesday. Clinton also won in Florida and Michigan, but those delegates are not being counted because the states broke party rules to move up their primaries. National polls show the two deadlocked.
Two small states and the Virgin Island is no sweep from west coast to the carib. Get real. By the way did Obama vote on the Stimulus package? And how is he going to do all these wonderful things I haven't hear him say, open your eyes America!!!
I'm melting! I'm melting!
Can it be that Ms. Rodham Clinton's coronation is not so inevitable after all?
As an outsider, (I live in India) the rise of Barack Obama is amusing as well as worrying because like some of the indian politicians his promises seem empty and his following is race based and he plays on the collective guilt feelings of people who think they should vote for him coz of his race.
A note to americans If he went to a mosque with his Muslim father he must be definately converted to islam because he MUST have ben made to recite the muslim holy vows.
WELCOME TO THE NEXT MUSLIM AMERICAN PRESIDENT. Surely you have always wanted to turn Green as it is your economy is controlled by the arabs. God bless you United States of Arabs!!!
Go Obama Go....
Obama is the face of this nation. He has given hope to people all over despite thier race, religion and sex. He is our 21st century president and he will lead us to a better word where war are the last resort not the first option. I pray to our lord that he will win the nomination and the presidency race. I am a republican who likes peace and the USA and I feel the time is right for a real unifier to lead this great nation.
Congratulations to Mr. Obama!! I am abolutely elated with all of this wins!!
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I get a bang out of how Hillary "downplays" the states in which she loses; she comes across as saying, "who cares, those states don't matter anyway". I think her attitude is insulting to the 18 states in which Mr. Obama has been victorious. THE STATES ONLY MATTER TO HER IF SHE WINS. Otherwise, she treats them as unimportant and inconsequential.
All I can say, is these states must be very happy they did not vote for her!!! I know, I am.
Obama has more years of experience as a legislator
Obama has made better choices on important issues from Iraq to health care (his plan will actually cost less, cover about as many people, and not penalize those who can't afford coverage, and learns from the "mistakes" of the Massachusetts plan that hers mimics which is WAY over budget and does NOT achieve universal coverage, PLUS his plan can actually succeed where hers will be labeled as socialized medicine by the republicans.
Obama has a better chance in the general election (recent polls show Hillary now losing to McCain, but Obama winning by several percent in popular vote and winning by larger margins in likely electoral votes)
Obama provides more substance on what he will do and why. You do need to go to his website to read it, but the suggestion that he is all style an no substance simply isn't true. Go see his website it is FULL of details about his health care proposal, environmental initiatives, etc. Yes, you do have to read, but if you couldn't read you would be voting republican anyway, right? :)
Obama has a History of working as a legislator to solve difficult problems that had been politically difficult by avoiding the existing partisan battles and charting a new path that actually brings meaningful, useful changes that help all his constituents, not just the democratic ones.
Obama is bringing independants, new voters, and even republicans out to vote for him. They will not all support Hillary in the general election.
What I don't understand is why ANYONE would vote for Hillary. Of course her numbers in these caucuses were about the same percentage as people who still think Bush is doing a good job, so I guess name recognition alone could account for that.
the only candidate that will save the republic is Ron Paul! Let go of the nanny state and bring all the troops home! Be RESPONSIBLE for yourself and your family. If FREEDOM and LIBERTY is your first priorty in your life, vote RON PAUL! VOTE for the founding fathers ideals!!!
I live in Seattle and haven't seen a single add. Don't watch TV, hence my posting online. i
I voted for obama, like 70% of the rest of Washingtonians. East ,West ,North, South, rural, urban, black , white, Latino, Asian, Native American, female, male, old, young, etc, etc.
Every single county but one.
How you like them Washington apples?
Barack Obama for President of the UNITED States of America.
clinton and obama will be fighting agains each other while someone else win the race to the white house. that will be a shame.
O.K. Huckabee, joke's over, time to pack it in now.
Different Delegate totals - Emily Carlson
Ask MSNBC, and they'll tell you Barak Obama has more delegates.
Over at Politico.com, Sen. Hillary Clinton is winning the delegate race.
And The New York Times says Clinton has more than one hundred fifty more delegates than Obama.
Welcome to the confusing world of the Democratic nominating process. While the process has always been mind boggling, this year, the stakes are high and the audience is large. While media outlets try to break down the process, viewers sit at home frustrated, trying to understand how the delegate counts can be so different.
Depending on who you ask, Hillary is ahead 1,000 to 902, or 912 to 741. MSNBC has Barak leading the delegate count by 4. The variables in coming up with a total number of delegates are many. The first is primaries vs. caucuses. In most cases, primaries are binding, but caucuses are not. A caucus is just the first step in the political process where delegates are chosen. Those delegates do not have to pick their presidental candidate until the national convention, so some media outlets do not count that state's delegates in their numbers.
Then there are superdelegates, who can support which ever candidate they prefer. Superdelegates are made up of elected officials and party leaders. There are 796 superdelegates across the country, and as of Friday, only 303 have publicly supported a candidate. The superdelegates can change their mind at any time, therefore some media outlets are not counting their votes just yet either.
And don't forget the states whose primaries don't even count. Florida and Michigan were punished by the Democratic National Committee for moving their primary dates up. They still held the primary, but their delegates won't count at the convention.
Lots of different delegate totals, yes. Confusing, yes. Important, YES! There is just not sure way to calculate those delegate totals right now. It's neck and neck. Clinton and Obama will duke it out all the way to the National Convention. Let's not jump the gun, and let's REALLY not get wrapped up in the specifics of the delegate total right now. The numbers will most certainly change. This could be the tightest race for the Democratic nomination of all time. It's going to be a LONG time before the numbers will declare a winner.
More:
http://clearblogs.com/emilycarlson/
http://emilyannecarlson.tblog.com/
http://eacarlson3.bravejournal.com/
Obama is a practicing Christian, United Church of Christ. There is so much misinformation out there, that someone from his campaign really needs to put a notice in this paper and the New York Times, about Obama's real life, and not the lies being spread about him. He is not Islamic, never was.
He is the best hope we have to clean up our government, to restore human and civil rights to all Americans, and to restore the rule of law and reason, for heaven's sake!Hope is alive and well in America, and to all the earth! Thanks be to YHWH!
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