Senator Barack Obama chalked up a victory in another caucus state on Saturday, beating Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Wyoming by a wide margin. The victory, while in a state with only 18 delegates, was welcome news for the Obama campaign as it sought to blunt any advantage Clinton might gain from her victories in Ohio and Texas on Tuesday. Clinton campaigned here on Friday, a day after her husband and daughter, signalling the stakes every contest holds in the fierce battle for the Democratic nomination.

Party officials reported extremely high turnout at caucus sites across the state. In Laramie County, more than 1,500 came to cast votes at the caucus site, quickly filling the auditorium in downtown Cheyenne. Hundreds waited outside for hours until they could enter and vote.

Wyoming Democrats, usually a lonely bunch in an overwhelmingly Republican state, basked in their moment in the spotlight. “Wyoming, this is our 15 minutes,” Kathy Karpan, a former Wyoming secretary of state who supported Clinton, said on Saturday morning.

Obama beat Clinton by 23 points. He appeared to have to won seven new delegates, while she will probably gain five. While both Clinton and Obama pushed hard to win the state, the Obama campaign’s early organising here appeared to have paid off.

The campaign set up shop two weeks before Clinton’s did, opening five offices in the state to two for Clinton. And Obama went on the air with television and radio commercials this week. Clinton had two radio advertisements running.

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