World
Obama Beats Clinton in Nebraska, Washington State
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Feb 9, 2008 - 7:19:56 PM

Sen. Barack Obama swept to solid victories over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y) in Nebraska and Washington state today, as the two combatants for the Democratic presidential nomination fought over delegates in the Midwest, the Northwest and the Gulf Coast.

With 85 percent of the Nebraska caucus vote counted, Obama led Clinton, 68 percent to 32 percent. In Washington state, meanwhile, Obama took about a two-to-one lead over Clinton, with more than half of the caucus vote counted.

In Louisiana, meanwhile, voters went to the polls to choose 37 of 68 delegates to the Democratic National Convention and 20 of 47 Republican national delegates. The early retuns showed a tight race between Obama and Clinton in the Bayou State.

In Washington state, Democrats took their first step in choosing 80 of their 97 national delegates. Republican caucus-goers will choose 18 of their 40 national delegates, while the rest will be picked in the state's Feb. 19 presidential primary. Nebraska Democrats held their first-ever caucuses to select 24 of 31 national convention delegates.

In the wake of Tuesday's showdown in 21 states that left Clinton (N.Y.) and Obama (Ill.) roughly even in the number of pledged delegates, the two have lavished attention on Nebraska, Louisiana and Washington state, in a frenetic effort to bulk up their delegate counts.

Earlier today, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee delivered a humiliating defeat to Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) in the Kansas Republican presidential caucuses, and this evening he appeared locked in a tight battle with McCain in Louisiana, according to CNN exit polling. Although McCain appeared to have locked up the nomination with a strong Super Tuesday performance and former governor Mitt Romney's announcement he was dropping out of the race, Huckabee beat McCain in Kansas, 60 percent to 24 percent, with 11 percent going to Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.)

At stake today were 36 of Kansas's 39 delegates to the Republican National Convention this summer, and Huckabee won all 36.

Huckabee has vigorously disputed party leader's assertion that McCain is unstoppable at this point, and he said this evening that he was running strong among conservatives and that the race was far from over. "I didn't major in math," Huckabee told a cheering crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference meeting in Washington, D.C. "I majored in miracles."

"It sends a pretty significant signal to John McCain that he's got a lot of work to do to get significant factions of the Republican Party solidly behind him," Kris Kobach, the Kansas state Republican Party chairman, told the AP.
McCain lost to President Bush in the their party's 2000 presidential campaign.

The veteran Arizona senator was viewed early on as the Republican front-runner in the 2008 campaign, until he ran out of cash last summer and his campaign staff imploded. But he bounced back with wins in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida, and then swept to coast-to-coast victories on Super Tuesday.

McCain is far out in front in the race for delegates, with 719 to Huckabee's 234. A total of 1,191 delegates is needed to secure the Republican nomination. President Bush yesterday urged attendees of the conservative conference to unite behind the presumed nominee. Although he did not mention McCain by name, the president said whoever ends up being the Republican nominee will represent conservative values. But the conservatives responded by choosing Romney over McCain in a straw poll taken at the end of their gathering.

While the race for the Republican presidential nomination appears virtually over, Clinton and Obama continue to scrap for delegates in Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington.

Reports of low turnout in Louisiana caused a wave of concern in the Obama campaign, Washington Post staff writer Anne Kornblut reported. Although Obama is expected to do well in Louisiana, where about 45 percent of registered Democrats are African-American, low turnout could drive down his numbers. The state has 66 delegates for the Democratic nomination.

According to Associated Press exit polling, blacks made up close to half the Democratic electorate, while nine in 10 Republican primary voters were white. Of those whites who said race was an issue in their vote, almost 9 in 10 of
them voted for Clinton, while blacks who said it was important voted 9 in 10 for Obama.

The racial gap in Louisiana was more extreme than in many other states this year: 9 in 10 blacks voted for Obama, while 7 in 10 whites voted for Clinton, according to the exit poll.

Close to one in 10 voters in both primaries were under age 30 and one in four were over age 65. Also, one in seven Democratic voters and about one in 10 Republicans said Hurricane Katrina caused their families severe hardship and they have not recovered. Given three choices, nearly half of Democratic voters said the economy was the most important issue facing the country.

Obama spoke at three major events in Seattle yesterday, where he picked up the endorsement of Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire. The day before, he addressed big crowds in New Orleans and Omaha, marking the first time in 20 years that a major presidential candidate campaigned in Nebraska during the primary season.

Clinton addressed a large rally on Seattle's waterfront Thursday night -- a last-minute addition to her schedule -- and her campaign began airing TV ads in the state touting her universal health care plan. She appeared to be trying to play catch-up with Obama who has been running ads in Washington for the past week.

Yesterday, Clinton campaigned in Tacoma and Spokane, while dispatching her husband, former president Bill Clinton, to make appearances throughout Louisiana. There, too, the better-financed Obama campaign has dominated the air war all week with radio and TV ads. Clinton's campaign purchased late-week radio ads in hopes of rallying her supporters to turn out today.

"Senator Obama's campaign has predicted strong victories," said Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson. "Despite this we will continue reaching out to all voters in all communities and states."

The disclosure this week that Clinton had loaned her campaign $5 million to try to match Obama's aggressive TV advertising in many of the Super Tuesday states underscores her problem going forward. Her campaign, which raised more than $100 million in 2007, has suddenly encountered financial problems, just when it is essential that she spend a lot to keep up with Obama in the hunt for delegates.

Before today, Clinton held a slight edge over Obama in the delegate count -- 1,055 to 998 -- with 2,025 delegates needed to claim the Democratic nomination. Obama has many advantages over Clinton going into today's contests, in part because of demographics and because of his more substantial advertising budget.

Louisiana has a significant African American population (32 percent according to the 2000 census), and given Obama's dominance among that key voting bloc it's hard to see how Clinton can beat him there. During a speech on the Tulane University campus in New Orleans on Thursday, Obama pledged to rebuild the hurricane-devastated city, including a new hospital and a $250 million investment to bring teachers and principals back to the Gulf region.

Obama has been dominant in caucus contests so far in the campaign, and that's almost certain to continue in Nebraska. Obama has Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey and Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler on his side. Nelson noted that Obama's Thursday visit to Omaha was the first time a high-profile presidential candidate had campaigned in a Nebraska primary since the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy appeared there in 1968.

Clinton does have the endorsement of at least one prominent Nebraskan -- former senator and governor Bob Kerrey. The one-time presidential aspirant is being featured in Clinton ads running in the Cornhusker State.

Washington is another caucus state, which -- in theory -- should play to Obama's strengths. So, too, should the strong progressive community in the state and the highly educated, affluent nature of the expected electorate. Clinton will not roll over here, however, as she has the state's two Democratic senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, on her side.

But Gov. Gregoire (D) threw her support to Obama late this week after speaking with the Illinois senator four times. "He is leading us toward a positive feeling of hope in our country, and I love seeing that happen," she said.

Clinton, campaigning in Maine early today, described McCain as a friend but warned that a McCain presidency would be little different from a third Bush administration. Clinton said that Democrats will have a hard time running against the "legendary background" of Republican John McCain, a decorated former Navy pilot, and that she is better positioned than Obama to defeat him in November.

"If our nominee is running against someone with the legendary background of John McCain -- Democrats need to think about this," Clinton said. "Because we're picking a nominee we expect to win. We cannot take four more years of more of the same."