Obama Scores Saturday Sweep

Illinois senator Barack Obama will be the winner of all Democratic contests on Saturday, defeating New York senator Hillary Clinton in the Louisiana primary and caucuses in Nebraska and Washington state.

Obama also won caucuses in the Virgin Islands, completing his best night of the campaign.

"Today, voters from the West Coast to the Gulf Coast to the heart of America stood up to say 'yes we can'" Obama told a cheering audience of Democrats at a party dinner in Richmond, Va.

Obama's winning margins ranged from substantial to crushing.

In Louisiana, Obama led Clinton, 57 percent to 36 percent, with almost all precincts reporting. In Nebraska, Obama won 68 percent to 32 percent for Clinton. In Washington, Obama had 68 percent to 31 percent with almost all precincts reporting.

On the Republican side in Lousiana, CBS News projects former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee will win over Arizona senator John McCain. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Huckabee led by almost 3,000 votes.

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Louisiana Results
Nebraska Results
Washington Results
Kansas Results

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Huckabee also won the Kansas Republican caucuses on Saturday afternoon, beating McCain by a large margin.

In Washington McCain is leading Huckabee by a slim margin. With 87 percent of the vote in, McCain is leading 26 percent to 24 percent.

Obama and Clinton competed for Democratic convention delegates as they remain locked in a landmark struggle for the party's presidential nomination.

"These were important wins for Obama," said CBSNews.com senior political editor Vaughn Ververs. "The one thing that has been missing in the Democratic contest is momentum. With his Saturday sweep and very favorable contests coming up Tuesday in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC, Obama may be on the verge of some big 'mo. While the delegate split is almost certain to keep the race tight, these wins cannot be overlooked."

In the race for delegates, CBS News estimates that Clinton has 1,118 delegates to Obama's 1,112. It takes 2,025 delegates to win the nomination. In the Republican race for delegates, McCain leads with 706 delegates, to 201 for Huckabee, according to CBS News estimates. It takes 1,191 to secure the nomination. Click here for the full GOP race delegate scorecard..

The Democrats' race was as close as the Republicans' was not, a contest between Obama, hoping to become the first black president, and Clinton, campaigning to become the first female commander in chief.

The two rivals contest primaries on Tuesday in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, all states where Obama and his campaign are hopeful of winning.

At the speech in Richmond, Obama jabbed simultaneously at Clinton and McCain, saying the election was a choice between debating the Republican nominee-in-waiting "about who has the most experience in Washington, or debating him about who's most likely to change Washington. Because that's a debate we can win."

Clinton preceded Obama to the podium. She did not refer to the night's voting, instead turning against McCain. "We have tried it President Bush's way," she said, "and now the Republicans have chosen more of the same."

She left quickly after her speech, departing before Obama's arrival. But his supporters made their presence known, sending up chants of "Obama" from the audience as she made her way offstage.

McCain cleared his path to the party nomination earlier in the week with a string of Super Tuesday victories that drove former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney from the race. He spent the rest of the week trying to reassure skeptical conservatives, at the same time party leaders quickly closed ranks behind him.

His Kansas defeat aside, McCain also suffered a symbolic defeat when Romney edged him out in a straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference meeting across town from the White House.

The day's contests opened a new phase in the Democratic race between Clinton and Obama.

The Feb. 5 Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses in 22 states, which once looked likely to effectively settle the race, instead produced a near-equal delegate split.

That left Obama and Clinton facing the likelihood of a grind-it-out competition lasting into spring - if not to the summer convention itself.

With the night's events, 29 of the 50 states have selected delegates.

Two more - Michigan and Florida - held renegade primaries and the Democratic National Committee has vowed not to seat any delegates chosen at either of them.

Maine, with 24 delegates, holds caucuses on Sunday. Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia and voting by Americans overseas are next, on Tuesday, with 175 combined.

Then follows a brief intermission, followed by a string of election nights, some crowded, some not.

The date of March 4 looms large, 370 delegates in primaries in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Mississippi is alone in holding a primary one week later, with a relatively small 33 delegates at stake.

Puerto Rico anchors the Democratic calendar, with 55 delegates chosen in caucuses on June 7.

If Super Tuesday failed to settle the campaign, it produced a remarkable surge in fundraising.

Obama's aides announced he had raised more than $7 million on line in the two days that followed.

Clinton disclosed she had loaned her campaign $5 million late last month in an attempt to counter her rival's Super Tuesday television advertising. She raised more than $6 million in the two days after the busiest night in primary history.

The television ad wars continued unabated.

Obama has been airing commercials for more than a week in television markets serving every state that has a contest though Feb 19.

Clinton began airing ads midweek in Washington state, Maine and Nebraska, and added Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia on Friday.