The nominating fight now turns to Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, which hold their primaries on Tuesday. Obama is considered well positioned in those states.

On Saturday, with the contest so close, excitement ran high, as did turnout. In Nebraska, The Omaha World-Herald reported that organisers at two caucus sites had been so overrun by crowds that they abandoned traditional caucusing and asked voters to drop makeshift scrap-paper ballots into a box instead. In Sarpy County, in suburban Omaha, traffic backed up on Highway 370 when thousands of voters showed up at a precinct where organizers had planned for hundreds.

In Washington, the Democratic party reported record-breaking numbers of caucusgoers, with early totals suggesting turnout would be nearly double what it was in 2004--itself a record year--when 100,000 Democrats caucused. Clinton's advisers had predicted she might not win any of the contests in February, and said she was looking ahead to March 4, when voters in Rhode Island and particularly Ohio and Texas will decide the next big bloc of delegates.

But Maine, which holds its caucuses Sunday, may favour Clinton, though there have been no polls. A win there could help blunt the edge of what are expected to be a string of victories for Obama in the 10 contests between last Tuesday and March 4.

"Although the next several states that hold nominating contests this month are more favorable to the Obama campaign, we will continue to compete in them and hope to secure as many delegates as we can before the race turns to Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania," said a Clinton spokesman, Phil Singer. The results on the Republican side provided some surprise, particularly since Huckabee's showings in Kansas and Louisiana came as McCain seemed headed to the nomination. Huckabee declared that the voters had been heard from. "They spoke with one voice," he said. "They said I am the authentic conservative in this race."

... contd.