By Ronald Baygents, KUNA
Washington : Barack Obama continued his surge by sweeping three states on Saturday in the latest voting for the US Democratic presidential nomination, while Mike Huckabee showed resilience in winning two of three states against presumed Republican nominee John McCain; the third state was too close to call.
Illinois Senator Obama defeated his rival, New York Senator Hillary Clinton, in three regions; the Louisiana primary in the South, Nebraska in the Midwest and the top prize of the day, Washington state in the Pacific Northwest.
Former Arkansas governor Huckabee beat McCain soundly in Kansas, and edged McCain in Louisiana by 44 percent to 42 percent.
McCain led Huckabee 26 percent to 24 percent in Washington state. With 78 percent of the precincts in, the Washington count was suspended until morning, officials said.
In the Democratic battles on Saturday, Obama defeated Clinton in the Nebraska caucus 68 percent to 32 percent; in the Washington state primary 68 percent to 31 percent; and in the Louisiana primary 57 percent to 36 percent.
Campaigning in Louisiana earlier this week, Obama promised in New Orleans that as president, he would rebuild the levees around the city to withstand a Category 5 storm like Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed nearly a third of the city in 2005 when floodwaters breached the levees.
Obama also won balloting in the US Virgin Islands.
Obama and Clinton attended a Democratic Party dinner in Richmond, Virginia, on Saturday evening as they campaigned for the next round of voting, the Tuesday “Potomac Primary” of Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
There is a major black population in the Potomac region, and Obama, an African-American who has been drawing some of his deepest support among blacks, was expected to do well on Tuesday. Obama was endorsed for president nearly a year ago by Virginia Democratic Governor Tim Kaine.
Former first lady Clinton and Obama campaigned earlier on Saturday in Maine, which holds a Democratic caucus on Sunday.
Clinton is focusing a major campaign effort on the populous states of Ohio and Texas, where she is well organized. Those primaries, which take place on March 4, are shaping up as “must wins” for Clinton. Another key Democratic primary is Pennsylvania on April 22.
The Clinton-Obama fight could continue into May or June because the two are nearly tied in delegates, and Democratic Party rules allow proportional allocation of delegates. The winner and loser of each Democratic caucus or primary collects delegates based on the percentage of votes they won, which has the effect of extending a close contest.
Some political analysts foresee the possibility of a brokered Democratic Party Convention in August should neither candidate gain the 2,025 delegates needed to win the nomination outright. In such an event, hundreds of “super-delegates” — top Democratic officials — could decide the nominee. The last brokered US political convention occurred in 1952.
On the Republican side, McCain has benefited from the mostly winner-take-all Republican system. In that system, McCain has been awarded all the delegates in states where he may have won by only a small percentage.
He also became virtually assured of the Republican nomination after top rival Mitt Romney, the former Mormon governor of Massachusetts, suspended his campaign on Thursday.
However, the ability of Huckabee to continue winning states even though Republicans know McCain is virtually unstoppable indicates continued division in the Republican Party.
McCain, who does well with moderate Republicans and independents, is unpopular with much of the conservative, evangelical Republican base, which has split most of its votes between Romney and Huckabee.
With Romney out of the race, Huckabee is drawing even more conservative, evangelical support.
The primaries on Saturday again showed a trend this year in which Democratic voters are turning out at a ratio of 2 to 1 or higher than Republican voters. Analysts say if this trend continues until the general election in November, it could cost the Republicans the presidency.