Obama beats Clinton in three-state sweep (Roundup)

Feb 10, 2008, 5:57 GMT

Washington - African-American candidate Barack Obama swept Saturday's three state contests for the Democratic presidential nomination, boosting his chances in a tight battle with former first lady Hillary Clinton.

Obama held 2-1 margins over Clinton after party caucuses in the Midwestern farm state of Nebraska and the Pacific North-West state of Washington, home to Microsoft and Starbucks. He was headed for easy victory in Louisiana, the Gulf Coast state hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Obama, 46, could overtake fellow US senator Clinton, 60, in the state-by-state Democratic delegate count on the strength of his latest showing. He already had 15 state victories heading into Saturday compared to Clinton's 12.

On the Republican side, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee - the only possible obstacle to Senator John McCain's presidential nomination - easily won caucuses in Kansas, a Midwestern state. Huckabee, who appeals to conservatives in the centre-right party, also led in Louisiana.

Saturday's Democratic caucuses brought further proof of the grassroots excitement generated by Obama, the self-described candidate of change who is seeking to become the first black president of the United States.

Clinton, a two-term senator from New York and wife of former president Bill Clinton, has recently hit a rough patch in her bid to replace George W Bush in the White House. Hillary Clinton loaned 5 million dollars to her presidential campaign after failing to land a knockout blow against Obama in this week's Super Tuesday primaries.

But she has strong support among party insiders, who could be decisive if the presidential nominee is not chosen until the Democratic National Convention in August.

After Saturday's votes, the nomination battles move on with Democratic caucuses Sunday in Maine and on Tuesday with voting by both parties in jurisdictions clustered along the Potomac River - Virginia, Maryland and the federal city of Washington.

Obama, elected to the Senate from Illinois in 2004, got a rock- star reception late Saturday at a meeting of 4,000 Democratic activists in Richmond, Virginia.

'We won north, we won south, we won in between,' he shouted as the crowd chanted his slogan, 'Yes we can.'

Obama touted his better standing than Clinton in national polls for a possible face-off with McCain in the November 4 general elections. Obama noted that his approval ratings are higher than Clinton's among independent voters and in states where Democrats have not been consistently successful.

Clinton played on her longer experience in politics, suggesting at the Richmond rally that she is better equipped to handle the wars, economic uncertainty and social inequality facing the next president, who takes office on January 20, 2009.

'Our task tonight is to make sure that president is a Democrat,' she said.

Obama has consistently done well in states where Democrats hold caucuses - local party meetings that reward fervour by requiring voters to assemble sometimes for hours to voice their preferences for a presidential candidate.

'There's no doubt that (Clinton) hasn't generated the kind of grass-roots enthusiasm that we have,' Obama was reported as telling journalists on his campaign plane.

Huckabee leapt from obscurity with a surprise win last month in Iowa, the first state on the calendar of 2008 intra-party contests to decide the major-party presidential nominations.

With little money and a small campaign organization, he was unable to capitalize on his Iowa breakout until Super Tuesday, when he won five Southern states.

A Baptist minister before entering politics, Huckabee has appealed largely to conservative Christians and other voters on the right wing of the centre-right Republican Party.

McCain, who holds a towering lead over Huckabee in delegates for the Republican presidential convention in September, is still the overwhelming frontrunner for the party's nomination, after his closest rivals dropped out in recent weeks.