Washington - African-American candidate Barack Obama swept
Saturday's three state contests for the Democratic presidential
nomination, boosting his chances in a tight battle with former first
lady Hillary Clinton.
Obama held 2-1 margins over Clinton after party caucuses in the
Midwestern farm state of Nebraska and the Pacific North-West state of
Washington, home to Microsoft and Starbucks. He was headed for easy
victory in Louisiana, the Gulf Coast state hit by Hurricane Katrina
in 2005.
Obama, 46, could overtake fellow US senator Clinton, 60, in the
state-by-state Democratic delegate count on the strength of his
latest showing. He already had 15 state victories heading into
Saturday compared to Clinton's 12.
On the Republican side, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee -
the only possible obstacle to Senator John McCain's presidential
nomination - easily won caucuses in Kansas, a Midwestern state.
Huckabee, who appeals to conservatives in the centre-right party,
also led in Louisiana.
Saturday's Democratic caucuses brought further proof of the
grassroots excitement generated by Obama, the self-described
candidate of change who is seeking to become the first black
president of the United States.
Clinton, a two-term senator from New York and wife of former
president Bill Clinton, has recently hit a rough patch in her bid to
replace George W Bush in the White House. Hillary Clinton loaned 5
million dollars to her presidential campaign after failing to land a
knockout blow against Obama in this week's Super Tuesday primaries.
But she has strong support among party insiders, who could be
decisive if the presidential nominee is not chosen until the
Democratic National Convention in August.
After Saturday's votes, the nomination battles move on with
Democratic caucuses Sunday in Maine and on Tuesday with voting by
both parties in jurisdictions clustered along the Potomac River -
Virginia, Maryland and the federal city of Washington.
Obama, elected to the Senate from Illinois in 2004, got a rock-
star reception late Saturday at a meeting of 4,000 Democratic
activists in Richmond, Virginia.
'We won north, we won south, we won in between,' he shouted as the
crowd chanted his slogan, 'Yes we can.'
Obama touted his better standing than Clinton in national polls
for a possible face-off with McCain in the November 4 general
elections. Obama noted that his approval ratings are higher than
Clinton's among independent voters and in states where Democrats have
not been consistently successful.
Clinton played on her longer experience in politics, suggesting at
the Richmond rally that she is better equipped to handle the wars,
economic uncertainty and social inequality facing the next president,
who takes office on January 20, 2009.
'Our task tonight is to make sure that president is a Democrat,'
she said.
Obama has consistently done well in states where Democrats hold
caucuses - local party meetings that reward fervour by requiring
voters to assemble sometimes for hours to voice their preferences for
a presidential candidate.
'There's no doubt that (Clinton) hasn't generated the kind of
grass-roots enthusiasm that we have,' Obama was reported as telling
journalists on his campaign plane.
Huckabee leapt from obscurity with a surprise win last month in
Iowa, the first state on the calendar of 2008 intra-party contests to
decide the major-party presidential nominations.
With little money and a small campaign organization, he was unable
to capitalize on his Iowa breakout until Super Tuesday, when he won
five Southern states.
A Baptist minister before entering politics, Huckabee has appealed
largely to conservative Christians and other voters on the right wing
of the centre-right Republican Party.
McCain, who holds a towering lead over Huckabee in delegates for
the Republican presidential convention in September, is still the
overwhelming frontrunner for the party's nomination, after his
closest rivals dropped out in recent weeks.
USA
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