Obama's Super Saturday

[DeepModem Mom]

TIME: Obama's Super Saturday
By AP/DAVID ESPO

(Washington) — Sen. Barack Obama swept the Louisiana primary and caucuses in Nebraska and Washington state Saturday night, slicing into Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's slender delegate lead in their historic race for the Democratic presidential nomination. The Illinois senator also won caucuses in the Virgin Islands, completing his best night of the campaign.

His winning margins were substantial, ranging from roughly two-thirds of the vote in Washington state and Nebraska to nearly 90 percent in the Virgin Islands. With returns counted from more than one-third of the Louisiana precincts, he was gaining 53 percent of the vote, to 39 percent for the former first lady. As in his earlier Southern triumphs in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, Obama, a black man, rode a wave of African-American support to victory in Louisiana.

Clinton made no mention of the night's contests as she appeared at a Democratic Party dinner in Virginia, site of one of three primaries this Tuesday. Instead, she criticized Arizona Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee in all but name. "We have tried it President Bush's way," she said, "and now the Republicans have chosen more of the same." She left quickly after her speech, departing before Obama's scheduled arrival. But his supporters made their presence known, as chants of "Obama" floated up from the audience as she made her way offstage.

In all, the Democrats scrapped for 161 delegates in the night's contests. In initial allocations, Obama had won 31, Clinton nine. In overall totals in The Associated Press count, Clinton had 1,064 delegates to 1,029 for Obama. A total of 2,025 is required to win the nomination at the national convention in Denver....

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1711720,00.html?xid=site-cnn-partner

[papau]

1. Excl MI/FL-O leads in total nation wide votes cast - the popular vote - that should decide the race