WEEKEND SCORECARD:
GOP: Huckabee 2, McCain 1
DEM: Obama 5, Clinton 0
FEB. 10 CAUCUS WINNERS LIST:
MAINE:
GOP: No GOP Race
DEM: Barack Obama
FEB. 9 PRIMARIES AND CAUCUSES WINNERS LIST:
LOUISIANA:
GOP: Mike Huckabee
DEM: Barack Obama
KANSAS:
GOP: Mike Huckabee
DEM: No Dem Race (Barack Obama won Feb. 5 Caucus)
NEBRASKA:
GOP: No GOP Race
DEM: Barack Obama
WASHINGTON:
GOP: John McCain
DEM: Barack Obama
US VIRGIN ISLANDS:
GOP: No GOP Race
DEM: Barack Obama
The AP reports:
Barack Obama won the Maine Democratic caucuses Sunday, defeating Hillary Rodham Clinton .
Democrats overlooked the snowy weather and turned out in heavy numbers for the caucuses. Democrats in 420 Maine towns and cities were deciding how the state's 24 delegates will be allotted at the party's national convention in August. Despite the weather, turnout was "incredible," party executive director Arden Manning said.
Local media and AP report McCain has won Washington's caucuses.
Clinton and Obama faced off at a Democratic Party dinner in Virginia Saturday night:
The dinner, held at a stadium that is part of Virginia Commonwealth University, brought out thousands of 18 to 25 year old voters that make up the Illinois senator's core supporters. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, an Obama endorser, gave the opening speech.
The two candidates' paths did not cross. Clinton finished her speech and departed for Washington DC before Obama and his entourage were scheduled to arrive
The AP is reporting that Barack Obama has won the Louisiana primary...(10:20pm ET)
Exit polling from Louisiana showed a racially polarized primary:
Blacks helped Barack Obama against Hillary Rodham Clinton in Louisiana's racially polarized Democratic primary Saturday, while John McCain made little headway among the most conservative, highly religious voters as he battled Mike Huckabee in their first head-to-head Republican matchup, exit polls found.
Blacks were nearly half the Democratic primary electorate and Obama racked up one of his largest margins yet among them. He won nearly nine in 10 blacks, male and female, according to the exit polls for The Associated Press and television networks.
Most other Democratic voters were white and Clinton won them by about 40 points, a margin she has met or exceeded only in Alabama, Tennessee and her former home state of Arkansas among 19 Democratic primaries surveyed this year.
Continuing a pattern seen in other Southern states, Obama won only three in 10 white men and did no better among white women. Outside the South, Obama has tended to win far more votes from white men than white women, who have been one of Clinton's strongest groups in nearly every primary so far.
Hillary Clinton raised over $10 million from 100,000 donors since the February 5 Super Tuesday contests, her campaign announced Saturday, as Democratic voters in three states and the Virgin Islands weighed in on the presidential race.
In a conference call earlier this week, Clinton Campaign Chairman Terry McAuliffe suggested that reports the New York senator had decided to loan herself $5 million in January were the chief reason for the recent fundraising boost, saying many donors had been unaware the campaign was facing a cash crunch.
Smith also takes note of the results from the sunny US Virgin Islands:
Simon Caines, the executive director of the Democratic Party of the Virgin Islands, shared in a brief interview just now the preliminary results of that territory's caucuses, which produce the equivalent of three delegates.
With all of the votes there in, Caines said, the preliminary count is:
Obama: 1772 votes (89.9%)
Clinton: 149 votes (7.6%)"We believe Senator Obama will receive all three of our pledged delegates," said Caines.
(He then explained that -- because nothing can be simple -- the territory actually has six delegates, each of whom has half a vote -- so the equivalent of three.)
The Seattle Times is reporting at 8:45pm ET that Obama is "coasting to victory":
With results still being counted, Obama had about a two to one advantage over Clinton. About 1.5 percent of the delegates were "uncommitted" or were cast for other candidates.
The results came as voters turned out in what appears to be record-breaking numbers, thanks in part to large numbers of first-time caucus-goers.
From the Washington Post's live blog of the results:
Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) defeated Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y) in Nebraska and took a strong lead over Clinton in 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 nearly two thirds of the Nebraska cacus vote counted, Obama led Clinton, 69 percent to 31 percent. In Washington state, meanwhile, Obama took about a two-to-one lead over Clinton, with about a third of the caucus votes counted.
The Omaha World-Herald is reporting that the preliminary Nebraska results at 8:15 ET favor Obama:
Barack Obama won 76 percent support today from caucusgoers in Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District.
The Omaha-based district includes Douglas County and almost all of Sarpy County.
In unofficial results announced by the Douglas County Democratic Party, Obama won 12,252 votes in the 2nd District to 3,709 for Hillary Clinton.
Statewide results will be announced later tonight by the Nebraska Democratic Party.
The Obama campaign is claiming "widespread" voting irregularities in Louisiana:
The Obama campaign submitted an urgent request for assistance to the Secretary of State's Division of Elections today, after receiving widespread reports from Democrats across Louisiana who reported that they were not allowed to vote because their party affiliation had been switched. Hundreds of Louisiana democrats went to the polls to vote in today's presidential primary and found that they were now on registration lists as Independent or Unaffiliated voters.
What Louisiana voters to need to know:
Democrats who are told at their polling places that they are now registered Independent or Unaffiliated voters and aren't eligible to vote - but never switched their party affiliation - can still vote in today's primary by requesting a provisional ballot. The Secretary of State has confirmed that all voters have the right to vote a provisional ballot if there is a problem with the registration lists.
The Wall Street Journal analyzes what Huckabee's win in Kansas means for McCain:
Mike Huckabee's Kansas victory is a troubling reminder for moderate front-runner John McCain that he just can't seem to get conservative evangelical voters on his side. Religious conservatives are traditionally a critical voting bloc for Republican presidential candidates."The key issue is, can he get enough passion and motivation behind him, from people particularly of faith to come out and work for him in the fall," McCain supporter Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback said Friday. It's not "whether they will go out for Hillary or Obama or something else. It's just really more of a question of whether they will come out and vote.
Early reports from Washington state look good for Obama, reports the Seattle Times' David Postman:
Democrats are e-mailing me results from their caucuses. Every one I've seen so far shows Obama winning easily. It's only a small number and only from a few places so far. That includes precincts in Seattle, all points in Bellevue, Mercer Island, and Port Townsend. I'll be particularly interested in seeing Pierce County results where Clinton is expected to do better.
The latest Clinton Campaign spin, straight from the press office, in an email to reporters that seeks to set the expectations for the night:
Tonight there are contests in three states that the Obama campaign has long predicted they would win by large margins. According to a spreadsheet that was obtained by Bloomberg News, the Obama campaign predicted big victories in Washington State, Nebraska and Louisiana.The Obama campaign has dramatically outspent our campaign in these three states, saturating the airwaves with 30 and 60 second ads. The Obama campaign has spent $300,000 more in Louisiana on television ads, $190,000 more in Nebraska and $175,000 more in Washington.
Although the next several states that hold nominating contests this month are more favorable to the Obama campaign, we will continue to compete in them and hope to secure as many delegates as we can before the race turns to Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania.
The Washington Post reports that low turnout in Louisiana is worrying the Obama campaign:
Although Sen. Barack Obama is expected to fare 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.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton skipped Louisiana, even though it has become a symbolic touchstone for Democrats following the government response to Hurricane Katrina. Instead she sent her husband to campaign for him there while chasing better bets in Maine, which holds its caucus on Sunday, and Virginia.
Sex advice columnist and editor of The Stranger Dan Savage reports from his caucus location in Seattle:
Maybe the caucus system works--when precincts have at most 10 people in them and no one gives a fuck about the election. But it's total pandemonium right now at Stevens Elementary. The lines to sign in--for for precinct--stretches all the way across the gymnasium. Lines to sign in for other precincts intersect with our line and no one is keeping order. Thank God for our neighbor: She commandeered a dozen sign-in sheet from the table and brought them to the end of the line so we could register our preferences and get the hell out. Here's hoping our sign-in sheets got back up to the precinct table: we didn't hang around long enough to find out.
Note to the Washington State Democrats: Please don't put us through that bullshit again. Don't waste our time. Let us vote in a primary. Yeah, yeah: The caucus system is supposed to build community, or something, since we're all supposed to gather together with our neighbors and talk about who we're supporting and why, and make appeals to the braindeads--excuse me, the undecideds--blah blah blah. But the only thing neighbors at Stevens are discussing right now is what a bullshit waste of time this is. You're going to need smaller precincts, and a lot more precinct sites, and a lot more workers, or you're going to need to go to a primary system.
The Politico's Jonathan Martin on what Huckabee's big win says about McCain's position as the prohibitive GOP frontrunner:
Even as he begins to consolidate support from even some of his biggest skeptics in the party, McCain will still lose evangelical votes to Huck as long as the former Baptist preacher is in the race.
And in conservative states with a conservative-dominated party that elect their delegates by caucus or convention instead of primary, Huck will continue to remind of the deficiencies McCain has with the base by soundly defeating his rival.
The key for McCain is to ensure that a short-term nuisance does not become a long-term problem.
McClatchy Newspapers reports that Huckabee is vowing to stay in the GOP race:
Hours earlier, Huckabee made clear to an audience of conservatives that he had no intention of quitting the race. "Am I quitting? Let's get this settled right now. No, I am not," he said.
...
Still, the ordained Southern Baptist minister told his audience, "Folks, I didn't major in math, I majored in miracles and I still believe in miracles.
The Washington Post analyzes Huckabee's win in the Kansas GOP primary:
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee easily won the Kansas caucus Saturday, defeating John McCain despite the Senator's vast lead among delegates in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.With about half of the Kansas precincts reporting, Huckabee is on track to win with 61 percent of the vote, well ahead of McCain's 24 percent and 11 percent for Texas Rep. Ron Paul.
The vote for Huckabee is another sign that McCain has yet to win over the nation's conservative, heartland voters despite having dispatched most of his rivals during the first five weeks of the year
Here's how the Politico's Ben Smith previewed Saturday's contests on the Dem side of the ballot:
Both Democratic campaigns say they expect Sen. Barack Obama to sweep Saturday's caucuses in Washington and Nebraska, and to win the primary in Louisiana. But Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton campaigned in Washington on Friday, while her husband visited Louisiana, and both campaigns are pushing hard in Maine, which caucuses Sunday.
"I expect the Clinton campaign will do very well in Maine but they
Clinton spokesman Phil Singer played down his candidate's hopes.
"We're going to work hard to be successful, but this weekend's contests are mostly caucus states and Sen. Obama generally does very well in caucus states," he said. "The race is for delegates, and we hope to pick up a few."
The Omaha World-Herald is live blogging the Democratic Caucuses in The Cornhusker State. They report that caucus sites have been overwhelmed with voters. An excerpt:
10:21 a.m.
Its time for "Plan B" at Monroe Middle School.
The school has been overun with too many people and too little room in the school's auditorium.
The plan now is to cuacus in the parking lot. "Once all the people are registered, the caucus will be held in the lot," said state Sen. Tom White.
"This is democracy. Everyone is going to get to vote," White said as he appeared to be paddling hard to keep his head above water.