Senator Barack Obama swept the Louisiana primary and caucuses in Nebraska, Washington state, and the Virgin Islands Saturday night, completing his best night of the campaign so far, and slicing into Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's slender delegate lead in their historic race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
"Today, voters from the West Coast to the Gulf Coast to the heart of America stood up to say 'yes we can'" Obama told a cheering audience of Democrats at a party dinner in Richmond, Virginia. Clinton preceded Obama to the podium and did not refer to the night's voting. She left quickly after her speech, departing before Obama's arrival. But his supporters made their presence known, sending up chants of "Obama" from the audience as she made her way offstage.
Senator Obama's winning margins ranged from substantial to crushing. He won roughly two-thirds of the vote in Washington state and Nebraska, and almost 90 percent in the Virgin Islands. With returns counted from nearly two-thirds of the Louisiana precincts, he was gaining 53 percent of the vote, to 39 percent for Senator Clinton. As in his earlier Southern triumphs in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, Obama, rode a wave of African-American support to victory in Louisiana.
The campaign is starting to resemble Super Bowl XLII, when the New England Patriots were heavily favored but were upset by the New York Giants. Just two months ago Senator Clinton was leading in the polls by over 20 percent and heavily favored to win the democratic nomination. Now Senator Obama has kept it close and the pressure is squarely on the back of the former first lady.
In overall totals in The Associated Press count, Clinton had 1,064 delegates to 1,029 for Obama. A total of 2,025 are required to win the nomination at the national convention in Denver. With the night's events, 29 of the 50 states have selected delegates. Maine, with 24 delegates, holds caucuses on Sunday. Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia and voting by Americans overseas are next, on Tuesday. Senator Obama is highly likely to win in Maryland, Virginia, and DC. Senator Clinton should do well in Maine. But In politics, who knows.
The date of March 4 looms large, 370 delegates in primaries in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont. Mississippi is alone in holding a primary one week later, with a relatively small 33 delegates at stake. Puerto Rico anchors the Democratic calendar, with 55 delegates chosen in caucuses on June 7.
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