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CASPER, Wyoming: Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama
trounced rival Hillary Clinton in Wyoming caucuses Saturday as their
tight race left them battling for every nominating delegate.
The Illinois senator defeated the former first
lady by a wide margin, 61 percent to 38 percent, or 5,378 votes to
3,311, with 100 percent of the vote counted. Sixty-four votes for
others went mostly to ex-senator John Edwards.
The outcome meant Obama would win the lion’s
share of the mere 12 delegates at stake, a tiny number compared to
the 2,025 needed to secure the Democratic Party’s presidential
nomination at its August convention.
But the victory represented some good news for
Obama after a difficult week in which he lost nominating contests in
delegate-rich Ohio and Texas and found himself on the defensive in
the face of attacks from the Clinton campaign.
With no candidate yet able to lock in victory
after eight long weeks of primaries, every vote and every delegate
still counts in the battle to be the party’s nominee in the
November presidential election against Republican John McCain.
And with only two contests before the end of
April, every win carries weight in the battle for momentum with the
candidates already eyeing Mississippi, which holds its primaries on
Tuesday.
In 23 caucuses around Wyoming, Democrats— only
about 25 percent of the staunchly Republican state’s
electorate—were choosing between Clinton, a New York senator, or
Obama.
Officials reported heavy turnout in a state
known for its Republican sympathies.
“I didn’t know there was this many Democrats
in the whole state,” party official Dick Sadler told AFP.
The caucus in Casper, a city of 50,000, started
about two hours late because of the overwhelming crowds, as election
officials were greeted by a line snaking around the building.
“It is very busy for Casper, Wyoming,” said
Dolly Peake, a Clinton supporter, as more than 2,000 waited to vote,
with the caucuses due to end at 6 p.m. (0100 GMT Sunday).
A longtime supporter of Clinton and her husband,
former President Bill Clinton, Peake said, “To hell with Obama —
I want Hillary!”
But Cheryl Flores, an Obama supporter, said she
was backing the Illinois senator “because his campaign was more
organized, he didn’t have as many negative attacks and he wants to
get the troops out of Iraq as soon as possible.”
She said it was exciting that Wyoming, often
ignored by White House hopefuls as too small to be bothered with,
was getting its turn in the spotlight this year.
A national Newsweek poll released Friday showed
the two senators in a virtual tie in their epic battle, with Obama
on 45-percent support to Clinton’s 44 percent.
The two were also virtually equal in voters’
eyes on the issue many see most important: the sagging US economy.
After Wyoming, Obama and Clinton will face
voters in the bigger, southern state of Mississippi, where 33
delegates are at stake. And the battle will then move to
Pennsylvania on April 22.
-- AFP
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