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Clean sweep for Obama; Huckabee takes Kansas

BY REID J. EPSTEIN | reid.epstein@newsday.com

12:51 AM EST, February 10, 2008

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., makes remarks at the Virginia Democratic Party Jefferson Jackson Day Dinner Saturday night in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo / February 9, 2008)

Barack Obama defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton in all three states up for grabs in Saturday's Democratic contests, building momentum in the deadlocked race for the party's nomination.

Obama, the Illinois senator, more than doubled Clinton's output in caucuses in Nebraska and Washington state and defeated her in Louisiana's primary, according to cable network projections.

MSNBC and CNN both projected Obama the winner in Louisiana, with the Illinois senator holding 53 percent of the vote to Clinton's 39 percent with more than three-quarters of the state's precincts reporting results. Obama also won the Democratic caucuses in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee won an overwhelming victory in the Kansas GOP presidential caucuses Saturday, but he still remains well behind frontrunner John McCain.

With 60 percent support, Huckabee trounced the Arizona senator, who received 24 percent. Huckabee won all 36 of the state's delegates to the Republican National Convention.

The cable networks projected Huckabee would win in Louisiana, but CNN projected no candidate would receive 50 percent of the vote in that state, the threshold to win delegates. In the event no candidate receives half the vote, the state's delegates will be determined at the state GOP convention.

McCain held a slim lead in Washington state over Huckabee and Texas Rep. Ron Paul with 78 percent of precincts reported, though the networks predicted that a winner might not be known until Sunday.

Both Obama and Clinton gave their campaign stump speeches to a Democratic party fundraising dinner in Richmond, Va., where voters will go to the polls Tuesday. Clinton, who spoke first, did not make a reference to her Saturday night defeats, but Obama cited his victories as evidence of his campaign's momentum. "Today the voters from the West Coast to the Gulf Coast to the heart of America stood up to say, 'Yes we can,'" he said.

In an attempt to head off criticism from the Obama campaign that she and McCain both voted to authorize the Iraq war, Clinton said she will draw sharp distinctions between herself and McCain.

"I don't think there's anyone here who thinks they can't tell the difference between me and Senator McCain," she said. "Voters wont have any problem seeing the differences."

The former Arkansas governor's victory comes as he continued to vow to remain in the GOP race for the White House despite McCain's the large delegate lead. Huckabee touted the victory as a triumph for what he described as his conservative principles.

"We were overwhelmed with the result," he said at a press conference Saturday night. "People across America are gravitating toward our campaign and realizing that there is still a choice."

Democrats are choosing between Obama and Clinton, the New York senator, while Republicans choose between Huckabee and McCain. Other candidates that have dropped out of the race remain on the ballot. Preliminary results of a survey of voters leaving their polling places in Louisiana showed that nearly half of those casting ballots were black. As a group, African-Americans have overwhelmingly favored Obama in earlier primaries, helping him to wins in South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia.

Clinton began the day with a slender delegate lead, according to The Associated Press count. She had 1,055 delegates to 998 for Obama. A total of 2,025 is required to win the nomination at the party convention in Denver. A total of 158 Democratic delegates are at stake Saturday.

McCain began the day with 719 delegates. Huckabee, with 198, and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, with 14, were his only remaining rivals following Mitt Romney's withdrawal from the race.

Maine, where Obama and Clinton both campaigned Saturday, will award 24 delegates during its Democratic caucuses Sunday. Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia and voting by Americans overseas are next, on Tuesday, with 175 combined.

Kansas Republicans could still vote for candidates who have dropped out of the race. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney placed fourth with 3 percent and perennial GOP candidate Alan Keyes was fifth with 1 percent.

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson and Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani both received fewer votes than did Uncommitted.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.