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Obama Wins Iowa Caucus

Huckabee Wins On GOP Side

POSTED: 4:47 pm HST January 3, 2008
UPDATED: 4:47 pm HST January 3, 2008

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Sen. Barack Obama, bidding to become the first black president, won the Iowa caucuses Thursday night, the opening test in the race for the 2008 Democratic nomination.

With 75 percent of precincts reporting for Democrats, Sen. Barack Obama has taken the lead with 36 percent of the vote, followed by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards tied with 31 percent.

On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee, a Baptist preacher-turned-politician, rode a wave of support from evangelical Christians to victory Thursday night in the Iowa caucuses, first test in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Huckabee handily defeated former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney despite being outspent by tens of millions of dollars, and after overruling his advisers in the campaign's final days by scrapping television commercials that would have assailed Romney.

Huckabee has a 35 percent to 24 percent lead over Romney with 25 percent reporting. Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson is third, followed by Sen. John McCain, Rep. Ron Paul and Rudy Giuliani.

In a survey of voters entering the caucuses by The Associated Press and the television networks, Edwards was expected to lag in third place behind Clinton and Obama, who polls showed were locked in a close battle for first place. On the Republican side, entrance polling showed Huckabee battling Romney.

Iowans have rendered their judgments in meetings at 1,781 precincts from Adel to Zingle, in schools, firehouses and community centers where the candidates themselves could not follow.

Earlier, the contestants had their final say.

Huckabee told a crowd in Burlington, "It's about believing in a cause," a summation that rivals in both parties could easily embrace. Likewise Edwards' plea to his backers in Iowa City: "This thing could be really close. ... We need you to make calls, talk to your friends." And Obama in Des Moines, when asked how he was feeling: "I feel great, although my throat. ..."

Win or lose, there was little time for rest. New Hampshire's first-in-the nation primary is set for next Tuesday, and the campaign quickly accelerates into a rush of contests culminating in more than two dozen on Feb. 5.

With President George W. Bush constitutionally barred from seeking re-election, both parties had wide-open, costly campaigns.

Obama, a first-term Illinois senator, stressed a need for change as he campaigned to become the first black president in history. Clinton, a New York senator, boasted of her experience as she worked to follow her husband into the White House and become the first woman to occupy the Oval Office. Edwards, his party's 2004 vice presidential candidate, cast himself as the implacable enemy of special interests as he aimed to improve on 2004's second-place showing in the state before becoming John Kerry's running mate.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Sens. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Joe Biden of Delaware and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio are also contesting the state.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, stressed his background as a businessman and organizer of the 2002 Olympics, and he worked to persuade conservatives to ignore his earlier positions on abortion and gay rights. He ran the only commercials of the campaign critical of a rival, hitting Huckabee for his positions on immigration and the pardons he issued while governor of Arkansas.

Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, pinned his hopes on evangelical conservatives who accounted for 40 percent of caucus-goers or more. By his account, he risked his candidacy when he decided not to air commercials criticizing Romney in return.

McCain, Paul of Texas and Thompson were also on the ballot, although their aides made no claim they were in the running for a first-place finish. So, too, Giuliani, the former New York mayor who largely abandoned the state in the campaign's final days.

At stake Thursday night in Iowa were 45 delegates to the Democratic National Convention next summer in Denver and 37 to the GOP gathering in St. Paul, Minn. But that was hardly the reason the crowded field of presidential hopefuls devoted weeks of campaigning, built muscular campaign organizations and spent millions of dollars on television advertising in the state.

For three decades, Iowa's caucuses have drawn presidential hopefuls eager to make a strong first impression, and this year was no different.

Obama, Clinton and Edwards spent at least $19 million on television advertising among them, and all three capped their campaigns with statewide broadcasts on Wednesday. Romney told supporters in a final daylong swing around the state he had been in 68 of 99 counties since he began his quest for the White House, had spent 55 days in Iowa and spoken before 248 separate audiences.

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