Senator Barack Obama won decisive victories over Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Washington, Louisiana and Nebraska on Saturday, giving him an impressive sweep going into a month when the Democratic nominating contests are expected to favor him.

The successes come just as Obama is building a strong advantage over Clinton in raising money, providing important fuel for the nominating contests ahead. Still, the results were expected to do little to settle the muddle in the delegate race that resulted after the wave of contests last Tuesday in which the two candidates split up states from coast to coast.

In Republican contests on Saturday, Mike Huckabee won in Kansas, an embarrassing setback for Senator John McCain as he tries to rally the party around him as the nominee. While Obama had been expected to win the contests on Saturday, the margin of victories were surprising, particularly in Nebraska and Washington, which offered the day's biggest trove of delegates. In both states, he captured 68 percent of the vote in caucuses, compared with Clinton's roughly 32 percent.

"We won in Louisiana, we won in Nebraska, we won in Washington state," Obama said at the Virginia Democrats' Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Richmond. "We won North, we won South, we won in between. And I believe that we can win in Virginia on Tuesday if you're ready to stand for change." While Obama's victories were significant, the Democratic Party awards delegates proportionally, so Clinton stands to walk away from the contests with a sizable number.

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