Obama sweeps 3 states
10/02/2008 08:37  - (SA)  

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Washington - Barack Obama easily swept Democratic presidential contests in three states on Saturday, striking the latest blows in a bruising back-and-forth battle with Hillary Clinton for the party's nomination.

Obama cruised to decisive wins in Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington to gain a small dose of momentum in a deadlocked, state-by-state fight with Clinton for convention delegates who will choose the party's presidential nominee.

"Today, the voters from the West Coast to the Gulf Coast to the heart of America stood up to say yes, we can," Obama said at a party dinner in Richmond, Virginia, a state that votes on Tuesday.

"We won in Louisiana, we won in Nebraska, we won in Washington state, we won North, we won South, we won in between, and I believe that we can win Virginia on Tuesday if you're ready to stand for change," the Illinois senator said.

Among Republicans, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee won contests in Louisiana and Kansas, dealing setbacks to front-runner John McCain two days after the Arizona senator had essentially sewed up the nomination.

The wins by Huckabee, whose campaign has been fuelled by support from social and religious conservatives, highlighted the continuing discontent with McCain among party conservatives.

Easy wins

"This race is far from being over," Huckabee told reporters after crushing McCain in Kansas. Two days earlier, McCain became the all-but-certain nominee with the withdrawal of his chief rival, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

Huckabee and McCain were running close in partial returns in Washington, which also voted on Saturday in the Republican race to choose a candidate in November's presidential election to succeed President George W Bush.

Huckabee, captured about 60% of the vote in Kansas, more than double McCain's total, and narrowly beat McCain in Louisiana.

Huckabee is now the only major opponent for McCain, who has rolled up more than 700 of the 1 191 delegates needed to win the Republican nomination at this summer's convention. Texas Republican Ron Paul also remains in the race.

Obama cruised to easy wins in Nebraska and Washington, doubling Clinton's tally with more than 60% of the vote, and comfortably beat Clinton in Louisiana with more than half of the vote.

Obama also won in the US territory of the Virgin Islands, which has three delegates to the nominating convention.

Clinton, a New York senator, and Obama are about even in pledged delegates but well short of the 2 025 needed to win the nomination.

Democratic rules allocate delegates on a proportional basis statewide and in congressional districts, meaning even the loser in each state can win big blocks of delegates.

It was not immediately clear how the delegate count would break down in the three states, where a combined 158 convention delegates were at stake.

Obama, who would be the first black US president, had been the favourite in all three contests. In Louisiana, he had been expected to benefit from a high percentage of black voters, his strongest supporters.

Exit polls showed blacks made up about half of the turnout in the state on Saturday, and Obama won four of every five of their votes. Clinton captured about 70% of whites, with Obama taking about one-quarter of their vote.

(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan, Jeff Mason, Deborah Zabarenko; editing by Chris Wilson)

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