Obama, Huckabee winners in Louisiana primary
Created: February 9, 2008 11:53 PM    
Modified: February 11, 2008 09:29 AM


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Barack Obama rolled to a big win in Louisiana's Democratic presidential primary Saturday night, adding it to wins in Washington state and Nebraska that left Obama and fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton in a virtual tie for national delegates -- with Obama gaining momentum.

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee won a close victory over Sen. John McCain in Louisiana's Republican Party primary.

Obama got 57 percent of the vote to 36 percent for Clinton, according to complete but unofficial returns. The remainder of the vote was split among Bill Richardson, John Edwards, Christopher Dodd and Joe Biden, who have dropped out of the race.

On the Republican side, Huckabee got 43 percent of the vote to 42 percent for McCain, according to complete but unofficial results. Ron Paul got 5 percent, with the rest split among Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Alan Keyes and Fred Thompson, who have ended their presidential campaigns.

McCain has a commanding lead in delegates for the Republican nomination but Huckabee, who has been running strong in southern primaries, is vowing to continue his campaign. He vigorously disagrees with assessments that the party's nomination is locked up after McCain's strong showing in the Super Tuesday primaries.

"I majored in miracles," Huckabee said during a speech at the Conservative Political Action conference in Washington, D.C.

Obama, a freshman senator from Illinois, also won caucuses in the Virgin Islands on Saturday and the Maine caucuses on Sunday.

"The stakes are too high and the challenges are too great to play the same old Washington game with the same old Washington players and expect a different result," Obama said in Richmond, Va.

"We won north; we won south; we won in between," Obama said.

McCain won Washington state's Republican primary. Huckabee overwhelmingly beat McCain in the Kansas caucuses, getting 60 percent of the vote.

While Obama won Louisiana's primary, he will share the state's delegates for the party's nomination with Clinton.

Sixty-seven Democratic delegates will be awarded mainly on the proportion of vote received by the candidates. That makes it unlikely the delegates awarded to each would be clear tonight.

Twenty Louisiana delegates are at stake in the Republican competition. However, those delegates only are committed if a GOP candidate gets 50 percent or more of the primary vote. Another 27 delegates on the Republican side aren't committed no matter the outcome of the primary election.

The Associated Press and CNN contributed to this report

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