Obama Trounces Clinton In Louisiana
Add another drubbing for Hillary Clinton in Louisiana giving a sweep to Obama in all three states that held primaries yesterday. Although Obama's margin was a little lower than in Washington and Nebraska, it was still very close to two to one with CNN reporting 57% to 36%. John McCain also had troubles yesterday winning only one close contest in Washington but losing to Huckabee in Louisiana and Kansas. Troubling for the Republican side is the very low turnout in all three contests. The New York Times calls Obama's wins convincing.
Senator Barack Obama won decisive victories over Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Washington, Louisiana and Nebraska on Saturday, giving him an impressive sweep going into a month when the Democratic nominating contests are expected to favor him.
The successes come just as Mr. Obama is building a strong advantage over Mrs. Clinton in raising money, providing important fuel for the nominating contests ahead. Still, the results were expected to do little to settle the muddle in the delegate race that resulted after the wave of contests last Tuesday in which the two candidates split up states from coast to coast.
In Republican contests on Saturday, Mike Huckabee won in Kansas, an embarrassing setback for Senator John McCain as he tries to rally the party around him as the nominee. The candidates were battling in Louisiana and Washington, where the results were too close to call. The Associated Press called the Louisiana race for Mr. Huckabee and the Washington race for Mr. McCain.
While Mr. Obama had been expected to win the contests on Saturday, the margin of victories were surprising, particularly in Nebraska and Washington, which offered the day’s biggest trove of delegates. In both states, he captured 68 percent of the vote in caucuses, compared with Mrs. Clinton’s roughly 32 percent.
The Clinton campaign is actually whining that Obama outspent Clinton in advertising. Poor dears. The fact is that Obama won by absolutely devastating margins, regardless of how he did it. At least McCain stayed close in Washington amid the low turnout there.
By feeblemind, February 10, 2008 @ 7:39 am
I was surprised by the size of McCain’s loss in KS. Wow! No rubber stamp there.
By Gaius, February 10, 2008 @ 7:47 am
But the total number of voters participating was extremely low. That is troublesome.
By feeblemind, February 10, 2008 @ 8:29 am
I imagine it is hard to motivate people to make the effort to vote for McCain if he has already won the nomination. That just leaves the protest vote. As a result of McCain having “won”, I expect GOP turnout to be light from here on out, and not necessarily an indication of November turnout. What the GOP should be concerned about was voter turnout up to and including Super Tuesday. If you added the vote totals for the candidates, the Dem candidates were beating the Repubs 62% to 37%.