The Trail: A Daily Diary of Campaign 2008

Primaries

ND: Obama Wins Handily; Romney Ahead

By Josh White
Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton handily in North Dakota tonight, taking 61 percent of the vote in the Democratic caucus. Clinton won 37 percent of the vote, with tiny percentages going to John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich.

The turnout of nearly 19,000 voters trounced earlier records, nearly doubling the 10,000 voters who turned out for Democratic caucuses in the previous vote.

Obama scored 11,477 votes to Clinton's 6,883, an indication that his strong campaigning in the state paid off. Obama has 10 full-time paid staffers in North Dakota, the largest effort the state has ever seen. Clinton relied on a volunteer staff and fell far short in a race for one of the smallest delegate totals in the nation, at 21.

"This demonstrates that North Dakotans are sick of Republican leadership in this state," said Rick Gion, press officer for the North Dakota Democratic Party. "We had a record turnout for a reason."

According to Deb Seminary, communications director for the North Dakota Republican Party, Mitt Romney was well ahead of John McCain as of 10:20 p.m., with 81 percent of the state's districts reporting. Romney had 37 percent of the vote and McCain, with 23 percent, was in a tight race for second with Ron Paul (21 percent) and Mike Huckabee (19 percent).

Posted at 11:11 PM ET on Feb 5, 2008  | Category:  Primaries
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Posted by: gtownes | February 6, 2008 4:07 PM

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