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Title: Obama declared projected winner in Wyoming
Source:
MSNBC
URL Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23534864/
Published: Mar 8, 2008
Author: NBC News and news services
Post Date: 2008-03-08 20:08:29 by robin
Keywords: None
Views: 126
Comments: 6
CASPER, Wyo. - Barack Obama was the projected winner in Wyoming's Democratic caucuses on Saturday, clinching a majority of the 12 delegates, NBC News declared. The Illinois senator led rival Hillary Rodham Clinton throughout the day in voting returns as Democrats crowded caucuses in Wyoming, the latest contest in the candidates' close, hard-fought race for the party's presidential nomination. Obama generally has outperformed the senator from New York in caucuses, which reward organization and voter passion more than do primaries. With Wyoming's projected win, Obama will have won 13 caucuses to Clinton's three. Obama has also shown strength in the Mountain West, winning Idaho, Utah, Colorado and now Wyoming. The two split Nevada, with Clinton winning the popular vote and Obama more delegates. But Clinton threw some effort in Wyoming, perhaps hoping for an upset that would yield few delegates but considerable buzz and momentum. Clinton campaigned Friday in Cheyenne and Casper. Former President Bill Clinton and their daughter, Chelsea, also campaigned this week in the sprawling but least populous U.S. state. Obama campaigned in Casper and Laramie on Friday, but spent part of his time dealing with the fallout from an aide's harsh words about Clinton and suggestions that Obama wouldn't move as quickly as promised to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq if elected. In Casper, Obama said Clinton had no standing to challenge his position on the war because the New York senator had voted to authorize it in 2002. Obama still holds the overall lead in national convention delegates, but he was seeking to regain lost momentum. Clinton revived her candidacy on Tuesday with major primary wins in Ohio and Texas as well as Rhode Island, while Obama won Vermont. Clinton's campaign had low expectations for Wyoming and the next contest on Tuesday in Mississippi, where Obama can count on the support of the state's large black population in his bid to win most of the 33 delegates at stake. Former President Bill Clinton campaigned on his wife's behalf Saturday in Pass Christian, Mississippi, a town nearly wiped off the map by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Both call for break The epic battle between Clinton and Obama has given Wyoming's 59,000 registered Democrats — outnumbered more than 2-to-1 by Republicans in Vice President Dick Cheney's home state — a relevancy they have not experienced in a presidential race in nearly 50 years. Only 12 national convention delegates were at stake. During the first caucuses of the day, it appeared the state's Democrats were showing up in record numbers. In 2004, a mere 675 people statewide took part in the caucuses. In Casper, home of the state party's headquarters, hundreds were lined up at the site of the Natrona County caucus. The location was a hotel meeting room with a capacity of 500. Some 7,700 registered Democrats live in the county. Voter deluge "I'm worried about where we're going to put them all. But I guess everybody's got the same problem," said Joyce Corcoran, a local party official. "So far we're OK. But man, they keep coming." Party officials were struggling with how to handle the overflow crowds. The start of the Converse County caucus was delayed due to long lines. In Cheyenne, scores of late arrivers were turned away when party officials stopped allowing people to get in line outside the Civic Center at 11 a.m. EST. A party worker stood at the end of the line with a sign reading, "End of the line. Caucus rules require the voter registration process to be closed at this time." State party spokesman Bill Luckett said they were obligated to follow its rules as well as those of the Democratic National Committee regarding caucus procedures. Later, state party officials said they would accept provisional ballots from about 20 people who remained at the caucus site and would seek approval from both campaigns to count their votes. While Wyoming will not give either candidate much in terms of elected delegates, wins in that state and upcoming contests could help sway the 800 so-called superdelegates — senior party officials and lawmakers whose votes are not linked to state primary or caucus results. Their votes will be needed to secure the nomination for either Obama or Clinton. That was 'off the record' The Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Harvard University professor tried to retract the snub at Clinton, and then apologized for it when it splashed across the headlines. Obama's campaign said he decried the characterization of the former first lady. "She is a monster, too — that is off the record — she is stooping to anything," The Scotsman quoted Power as saying in the interview conducted Monday, but which was published Friday. Power's comments about Iraq came in an interview with the BBC. She said Obama's position is that withdrawing all U.S. troops within 16 months is a "best-case scenario" that he will revisit if he becomes president. Campaigning in Mississippi on Friday, Clinton questioned the Iraq comments based on Obama's public statements. "He has attacked me continuously for having no hard exit date, and now we learn he doesn't have one, in fact he doesn't have a plan at all," Clinton told reporters while campaigning in Mississippi. Obama has actually shortened his original 16-month commitment to say he will end the war in 2009, and he reiterated that promise at a rally Friday. Obama snapped back and told voters in Casper that Clinton "doesn't have standing to question my position on this issue" because she voted in 2002 to authorize the war. Despite the rancor, Clinton, who is bidding to be the first female U.S. president, raised for the second time this week the possibility that she might run with the Illinois senator on the Democratic presidential ticket during a town hall meeting Friday in Mississippi. Obama, who hopes to become the first black president, has not ruled it out, but says it is premature to be having those discussions. The rivals were neck-and-neck in a national poll that Newsweek magazine carried out just after Tuesday's primaries. Obama had 45 percent to Clinton's 44 percent, with a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. The magazine polled 1,215 Democratic voters March 5-6. Obama holds the lead in delegates, 1,366 to Clinton's 1,227, according to NBC News and MSNBC.com calculations. A total of 2,025 delegates is needed to win the nomination at the party's convention in late August, and neither candidate will have the necessary majority without superdelegate support, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. Only in the past few weeks have the campaigns stepped up their presence in Wyoming, opening offices, advertising, calling voters and sending mailers. Wyoming Democrats have relished the attention, harkening back to the 1960 Democratic National Convention when the state's delegation cast 15 votes that pushed Sen. John F. Kennedy over the top for the nomination. The division between Democrats could benefit Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain: Many of those who responded to the Newsweek poll said they would vote for the Arizona senator if their preferred Democratic candidate was not nominated. McCain has already surpassed the number of delegates needed to clinch his party's nomination at the Republican convention in September.
Obama takes lead in Wyoming
Both Obama and Clinton took a rare day off on Saturday, but were already looking ahead to the biggest remaining prize — Pennsylvania on April 22 with 158 delegates at stake.
In Sweetwater County, more than 500 people crowded into a high school auditorium and another 500 were lined up to get inside.
Obama was struggling to weather a controversy after his top foreign policy adviser, Samantha Power, called Clinton a "monster" in an interview with a Scottish newspaper. Power, who resigned Friday, also said in a BBC interview that Obama may not be able to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq within a year as he has promised on the campaign trail.
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#2. To: robin (#0)
I think it's ironic that backwater folks in Wyoming can see that a black dude with an Islamic middle name and whose father is from a foreign country is a better choice than the others in this race. They may be right.
#4. To: buckeye, robin (#2)
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Replies to Comment # 2. I think it's ironic that backwater folks in Wyoming can see that a black dude with an Islamic middle name and whose father is from a foreign country is a better choice than the others in this race.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 2.