News
The Big Story: Obama sweeps 3; McCain falters
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| AP Photo | Steve Helber Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., waves to the crowd along with Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine prior to a speech before the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Richmond, Va., yesterday. |
From The Associated Press
Illinois Sen. Barack Obama swept the Louisiana primary and caucuses in Nebraska and Washington state Saturday night, slicing into New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's slender delegate lead in their historic race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Arizona Sen. John McCain flunked his first ballot test since becoming the Republican nominee-in-waiting.
He lost Kansas caucuses to Mike Huckabee, gaining less than 24 percent of the vote. At press time the GOP races in Washington State and Louisianna were too close to call.
Obama also won caucuses in the Virgin Islands with nearly 90 percent of the vote.
He was winning roughly two-thirds of the vote in Washington state with 78 delegates at stake and Nebraska with 24 delegates.With returns counted from more than one-third of the Louisiana precincts, he was gaining 53 percent of the vote, to 39 percent for the former first lady.
Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, got nearly 60 percent of the Kansas vote a few hours after telling conservatives in Washington, D.C., "I majored in miracles, and I still believe in them." He won all 36 delegates at stake.
McCain made little headway among the most conservative, highly religious voters as he battled Huckabee in their first head-to-head Republican matchup Saturday, polls found.
In two of the three states voting Saturday, Kansas and Washington, McCain has warred with a major employer in both, Boeing Co. McCain helped kill a controversial $6 billion deal for Boeing to build refueling tankers for the Air Force. The deal led to corruption-related convictions for company executives and the resignation of its CEO, but nonetheless, jobs in the two states were at stake. Recently, McCain said Boeing "has cleaned up its act" and said he supports the new process in which Boeing is competing to build the planes.
Huckabee was far behind in the delegate race. McCain had 719, compared with 234 for Huckabee and 14 for Texas Rep. Ron Paul. It takes 1,191 to win the nomination at the national convention.
In all, the Democrats scrapped for 161 delegates in the night's contests. In initial allocations, Obama had won 31, Clinton nine.
In overall totals in The Associated Press count, Clinton had 1,064 delegates to 1,029 for Obama. A total of 2,025 is required to win the nomination at the national convention in Denver.
As a group, African-Americans have overwhelmingly favored Obama in earlier primaries, helping him to wins in South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia.
Blacks were nearly half the Louisiana electorate and Obama racked up one of his largest margins yet among them. He won nearly nine in 10 blacks, male and female, according to the exit polls for The Associated Press and television networks.
As a group, African-Americans have overwhelmingly favored Obama in earlier primaries, helping him to wins in South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia.
Most other Democratic voters were white and Clinton won them by about 40 points, a margin she has met or exceeded only in Alabama, Tennessee and her former home state of Arkansas among 19 Democratic primaries surveyed this year.
Continuing a pattern seen in other Southern states, Obama won only three in 10 white men and did no better among white women. Outside the South, Obama has tended to win far more votes from white men than white women, who have been one of Clinton's strongest groups in nearly every primary so far.
Two more — Michigan and Florida — held renegade primaries and the Democratic National Committee has vowed not to seat any delegates chosen at either of them.
Maine, with 24 delegates, holds caucuses on Sunday. Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia and voting by Americans overseas are next, on Tuesday, with 175 combined.
Illinois Sen. Barack Obama swept the Louisiana primary and caucuses in Nebraska and Washington state Saturday night, slicing into New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's slender delegate lead in their historic race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Arizona Sen. John McCain flunked his first ballot test since becoming the Republican nominee-in-waiting.
He lost Kansas caucuses to Mike Huckabee, gaining less than 24 percent of the vote. At press time the GOP races in Washington State and Louisianna were too close to call.
Obama also won caucuses in the Virgin Islands with nearly 90 percent of the vote.
He was winning roughly two-thirds of the vote in Washington state with 78 delegates at stake and Nebraska with 24 delegates.With returns counted from more than one-third of the Louisiana precincts, he was gaining 53 percent of the vote, to 39 percent for the former first lady.
Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, got nearly 60 percent of the Kansas vote a few hours after telling conservatives in Washington, D.C., "I majored in miracles, and I still believe in them." He won all 36 delegates at stake.
McCain made little headway among the most conservative, highly religious voters as he battled Huckabee in their first head-to-head Republican matchup Saturday, polls found.
In two of the three states voting Saturday, Kansas and Washington, McCain has warred with a major employer in both, Boeing Co. McCain helped kill a controversial $6 billion deal for Boeing to build refueling tankers for the Air Force. The deal led to corruption-related convictions for company executives and the resignation of its CEO, but nonetheless, jobs in the two states were at stake. Recently, McCain said Boeing "has cleaned up its act" and said he supports the new process in which Boeing is competing to build the planes.
Huckabee was far behind in the delegate race. McCain had 719, compared with 234 for Huckabee and 14 for Texas Rep. Ron Paul. It takes 1,191 to win the nomination at the national convention.
In all, the Democrats scrapped for 161 delegates in the night's contests. In initial allocations, Obama had won 31, Clinton nine.
In overall totals in The Associated Press count, Clinton had 1,064 delegates to 1,029 for Obama. A total of 2,025 is required to win the nomination at the national convention in Denver.
As a group, African-Americans have overwhelmingly favored Obama in earlier primaries, helping him to wins in South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia.
Blacks were nearly half the Louisiana electorate and Obama racked up one of his largest margins yet among them. He won nearly nine in 10 blacks, male and female, according to the exit polls for The Associated Press and television networks.
As a group, African-Americans have overwhelmingly favored Obama in earlier primaries, helping him to wins in South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia.
Most other Democratic voters were white and Clinton won them by about 40 points, a margin she has met or exceeded only in Alabama, Tennessee and her former home state of Arkansas among 19 Democratic primaries surveyed this year.
Continuing a pattern seen in other Southern states, Obama won only three in 10 white men and did no better among white women. Outside the South, Obama has tended to win far more votes from white men than white women, who have been one of Clinton's strongest groups in nearly every primary so far.
Two more — Michigan and Florida — held renegade primaries and the Democratic National Committee has vowed not to seat any delegates chosen at either of them.
Maine, with 24 delegates, holds caucuses on Sunday. Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia and voting by Americans overseas are next, on Tuesday, with 175 combined.
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