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Politics

Wis. primaries go to Obama and McCain

WASHINGTON - Sen. Barack Obama cruised past Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Wisconsin primary Tuesday, gaining the upper hand in the Democratic presidential race.

Sen. John McCain, the Republican front-runner, won a pair of primaries, in Wisconsin and Washington, to continue his march toward certain nomination. According to federal filings late Tuesday, McCain reported raising nearly $12-million in January.

His rival, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, parried occasional suggestions - none by McCain - that he quit.

It was Obama's ninth straight victory over the past three weeks, leaving the former first lady in desperate need of a comeback in a race she long commanded as front-runner.

Clinton made no mention of her defeat and showed no sign of surrender in an appearance in Youngstown, Ohio.

"Both Sen. Obama and I would make history," Clinton said. "But only one of us is ready on Day 1 to be commander in chief, ready to manage our economy, and ready to defeat the Republicans."

With the votes counted in more than 80 percent of Wisconsin's precincts, Obama was winning 58 percent of the vote to 41 percent for Clinton. Wisconsin offered 74 national convention delegates.

The victory puts Obama at 1,303 delegates in the Associated Press' count, compared with 1,233 for Clinton. It takes 2,025 to win the nomination.

McCain won 13 Republican delegates by carrying the popular vote in Wisconsin, with 24 still to be awarded. Washington's 19 delegates had yet to be awarded at press time. Overall, McCain had 921 delegates and Huckabee had 245.

Washington Democrats voted in a primary, too, but delegates were picked earlier in the month in caucuses won by Obama.

Hawaii also held Democratic caucuses Tuesday, with 20 delegates at stake. Voting ended at 12:30 a.m. EST today, and results were not available at press time.

Up next

Four states hold primaries March 4:

Ohio: 141 Democratic delegates; 85 Republican delegates

Texas: 193 Democratic delegates; 137 Republican delegates

Rhode Island: 21 Democratic delegates; 17 Republican delegates

Vermont: 15 Democratic delegates; 17 Republican delegates

[Last modified February 20, 2008, 01:34:36]