Washington - Senator Barack Obama was the projected winner
of the Democratic caucus in the western state of Wyoming on Saturday,
in the latest contest in the state-by-state battle to represent the
party in November presidential elections.
Obama had 58 per cent of the vote to opponent Hillary Clinton's 41
per cent, with 91 per cent of the state's caucus sites reporting
results, CNN said.
More than 6,000 party members had turned out for the party
meetings in the generally Republican-leaning state, an unusually high
turnout in the sparsely populated state of about 500,000.
Only a few hundred Democrats turned out for the party's caucus in
2004, but this year's long, close race between Clinton and Obama has
generated interest in states that traditionally have had little say
in determining the party's candidate.
The battle between Obama, 46, and Clinton, 60, took an
increasingly nasty tone in the run-up to caucuses in Wyoming on
Saturday and primary voting on Tuesday in Mississippi, with each
fighting for every crucial delegate needed to nab the nomination.
Though just 12 delegates of the 2,205 needed to be named the party's
candidate are to be determined in Saturday's caucus, both candidates
had visited the state to appeal to Democrats.
Clinton lags behind Obama in the delegate count needed to secure
the nomination at the party's convention in Denver in August by less
than 100 delegates, with 1,424 delegates compared to Obama's 1,520
before Saturday's contest, according to CNN.
CNN estimated that Obama would receive at least seven delegates
from the caucus and Clinton would receive at least four.
Only centre-left Democrats caucused in Wyoming on Saturday, and
the centre-right Republicans held their contest there in January.
Republican Senator John McCain sealed his grip on the nomination on
Tuesday with primary wins in Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island.
With the Democratic race so close, there is pressure for repeat
voting in two states whose primary results were dismissed by the
national party because they disobeyed directives not to hold their
contests in January - Florida and Michigan.
Obama is also expected to win a contests Tuesday in Mississippi,
after which the two candidates will have more than a month to prepare
for the last big-state primary in delegate- rich Pennsylvania on
April 22.
Under Democratic rules, delegates are assigned proportional to the
vote, meaning a candidate can lose the majority vote but still get a
sizeable number of delegates.
USA
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