Sen. Barack Obama, has a huge victory on his scorecard as he bids to become the nation’s first black president. He captured the Iowa caucuses Thursday night, opening test in the race for the 2008 Democratic nomination. Mike Huckabee rode a wave of support from evangelical Christians to victory in the Republican caucuses.
Obama, 46 and a first-term senator from Illinois, stood strong against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, the former first lady, and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, the party’s 2004 vice presidential nominee.
Obama scored 38 percent of the vote with John Edwards second with 30 and Hillary Clinton third with 29. Obama won 16 delgates with Clinton getting 15 and Edwards 14. Overall, Clinton leads with 175 delegates, including superdelegates, followed by Obama with 75 and Edwards with 46.
Obama, who campaigned as an apostle of change in Washington, was gaining 36 percent support among Democrats. Edwards, who ran promising to battle the special interests in the capital, and Clinton, who stressed her experience, both were drawing about 30 percent.
“Big cities and small towns, you came together to say, ‘We are one nation, we are one people and our time for change has come,’” Obama said at a victory rally.
Among Republicans, Huckabee, a preacher turned politician, handily defeated Mitt Romney despite being outspent by tens of millions of dollars, and deciding in the campaign’s final days to scrap television commercials that would have assailed the former Massachusetts Governor.
For the Republicans, former Sen. Fred Thompson and Sen. John McCain battled for third place, while Texas Rep. Ron Paul wound up fifth and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani sixth.
With the New Hampshire primary only five days distant, Clinton and Edwards vowed to fight on in the race for the Democratic nomination.
Information from the Associated Press contributed to this report.
