Obama Decisive Win In Washington State

by Marc Brodine

In the Democratic Party caucuses in Washington State today, Obama won decisively.

Many precincts reported massive turnouts, with precinct workers running out of sign-in sheets, standing room only, and in a few cases, people turned away due to overcrowding. The turnout for the Democratic caucuses is reported to be more than double that from 2004.

Most surprising is that Obama is winning big all over the state, including in more generally conservative Eastern Washington.

Both Obama and Clinton visited the state in the days before the caucuses, with Clinton speaking to thousands of nurses, and Obama addressing an overflow crowd of about 20,000 at the Key Arena.

Washington State's delegates to the Democratic Convention are determined by the caucuses, but the state is also holding a primary for all voters on Feb.19th. That vote, while not affecting the delegate count, will involve many more voters directly.