March 15, 2008
OBAMA WINS IOWA, AGAIN
The state that handed Hillary Clinton the first loss of her presidential quest humbled her again today, giving Barack Obama at least seven more delegates and maybe even taking one away from Clinton.

The Democrats chosen in the state's caucus to back Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards back in January – when Clinton finished third – turned out for county conventions to decide if they were still with their candidates.

With Edwards now out of the race, Obama scored big, pushing his total in Iowa to at least 23, with all but one county tallied as of now. Clinton either lost one delgate, or stayed steady at 15.

"This is a very significant improvement for us in terms of the delegate situation," said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe just a bit ago, noting that the Clinton campaign mounted an all out push for the conventions.

Camp Clinton vowed to do better on April 26, when the state party holds more conventions — in each of the five congressional districts — and the Hawkeye State finally makes its White House choices permanent.

"We're very proud of the supporters who came out to the county conventions to support Hillary today,"said Clinton spolesman Phil Singer. "We are going to continue working hard and look forward to the next stage of this process."

Edwards kept seven of his 14 delegates.

- Michael McAuliff