Obama, Huckabee Score Upset Wins in US presidential Race  

By Arun Kumar  (January 4, 2008)

Washington, Jan 4 - Democrat Barack Obama, hoping to become the first black American president, won the first of the 50 US presidential nomination contests delivering an unexpected setback to former first lady Hillary Clinton.

On the Republican side too, underdog Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and a Baptist preacher, surged past former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney as the two major party's supporters kicked off the 2008 presidential race with caucuses in Iowa Thursday.

Obama pushed past 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards leaving the party's national frontrunner Clinton in third place as results poured in from 1,781 precincts across the western state on a cold and windy night.

Declaring the time for change has come, Obama told his supporters: 'They said this day would never come. They said our sights were set too high. They said this country was too divided, too disillusioned, to come together over a common purpose.'

With 97 percent of votes tallied, Obama had 37.5 percent, Edwards 29.9 percent and Clinton 29.4 percent. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson was a distant fourth, with 2.1 percent of the vote.

With nearly 80 percent of Republican precincts reporting, Huckabee won with 34 percent of the vote to 25 percent for Romney and 13 percent each for TV actor Fred Thompson and John McCain, a Vietnam War veteran.

Both Clinton and Edwards, who at one time led polls in Iowa and finished a strong second here during a failed 2004 presidential bid, were undeterred by their defeat in the first qualifying race.

Hillary Clinton addressing party supporters in Des Moines with her husband, former president Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea by her side, voiced confidence she would rebound in her bid for the presidency in other state contests across the US.

'I am so proud to have run with such exceptional candidates,' Clinton said, congratulating Obama and Edwards. 'Together we have presented the case for change and have made it absolutely clear that America needs a new beginning,' she said.

'I am so ready for the rest of this campaign, and I am so ready to lead,' said Clinton who has been banking on her experience in the thick of things with husband Bill Clinton. 'We are going to take this enthusiasm and go right to New Hampshire tonight.'

Clinton leads polls among Democrats in New Hampshire, which holds its nominating primary next Tuesday.

Huckabee defeated the vastly better funded and organised Romney of Massachusetts, riding a wave of support by evangelical Christians who said they were drawn to the preacher because they believed he shared their values.
 

Originally appeared in Earth Times.