Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) took the first contest after Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-N.Y.) major victories last week. He won the Wyoming caucus, the least delegate-heavy election in the Democratic primaries.
Obama received 61 percent of the vote on Saturday, compared to the 38 percent that went to Hillary Clinton. The difference only translated into a three-delegate difference. In fact, neither candidate gained more than ten delegates from the contest.
While the victory is small, Obama's camp hopes the outcome will do something to counter the momentum that Clinton amassed in her victories on Tuesday. She won about 150 delegates overall in primaries in the populous states of Ohio and Texas and the smaller Rhode Island. Obama took the Vermont primary that day and won about 140 delegates overall.
Obama's win in Wyoming reflects some trends. He has won 12 of the 13 caucuses that have been decided thus far and has taken the majority of western states, including Idaho, Utah and Colorado.
Obama currently leads Clinton by over 100 delegates, with 1,578 to Clinton's 1,468, according to the latest Associated Press estimate. 2,024 delegates are needed to win the race.
Both candidates spent a relatively large amount of time in the lightly populated Freedom State. The entire Clinton family made an appearance in the state this week, with former President Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea showing their support.
Obama, however, started his campaign effort in the state two weeks earlier than Clinton.
David Plouffe, manager of the Obama campaign, said that the Wyoming victory showed Obama's strength in Western states. He accredited that strength to the support of independent voters. "This is a big win for us," he said, according to Politico.com.
The Clinton campaign was proud of its efforts to fight an "uphill" battle in the state. Maggie Williams, Clinton's campaign manager, said her side had worked hard and was satisfied. "We are thrilled with this near-split in delegates," Williams said, according to the Associated Press.
Voter turnout was noteworthy in Wyoming's Democratic caucus. While only 675 voters attended the 2004 caucuses, over 1,000 voters showed up in one county alone for this year's contest. In Cheyenne, the state's capital, campaign workers actually had to turn some of the 1,500 voters away due to the unexpected numbers.
In recent years, the nomination has been decided before Wyoming's caucus, but the contest is more significant this year.
The next contest will be tomorrow's Mississippi primary. The next major primary will come on April 22, when Pennsylvania's 187 delegates are up for grabs.
