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Obama has huge lead in Texas delegate votes

As of Sunday night, there were more than 3,000 still to be counted

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  • KELLEY SHANNON - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
  • Originally published March 30, 2008 at 10:53 p.m., updated March 30, 2008 at 10:53 p.m.

AUSTIN – The presidential contest in Texas appeared to tighten with weekend Democratic caucuses as Barack Obama led Hillary Clinton in incomplete county and senate district convention results.

Obama won 2,426 delegates to the state convention, or 58 percent, in the Saturday caucuses, compared with 1,755 delegates, or 42 percent, for Clinton, according to an ongoing count Sunday by The Associated Press. There were still more than 3,100 others to be counted.

Texas Republicans also had county conventions, but theirs were to select who would get to go to the party’s state meeting, not to battle over a delegate count. Almost all Texas GOP delegates to the national convention are chosen based on the primary vote.

Obama’s campaign predicted he would win the overall delegate race in Texas because of caucus support, even though Clinton narrowly won the popular vote in primary balloting March 4.

The caucus delegates ultimately will be winnowed and divvied up in June.

Clinton’s campaign trumpeted its caucus successes in predominantly Hispanic regions along the Texas-Mexico border and elsewhere in South Texas and in rural counties.

“We continue to be grateful to the enthusiastic support Hillary continues to receive throughout the Lone Star state, and look forward to a strong showing at the Texas state Convention in June,”said Clinton state chairman Garry Mauro.

Obama’s camp accused Clinton’s of aggressively pushing to challenge and disqualify Obama delegates based on technicalities.

“Despite the Clinton campaign’s widespread attempts to prevent many Texans from participating in their district convention, the voters of Texas confirmed Senator Obama’s important delegate win in the Lone Star State,” said Obama spokesman Josh Earnest.

As he did in earlier precinct caucusing, Obama scored some lopsided victories in senate district caucuses Saturday in Houston, Dallas and Austin. Those were among the largest and most delegate-rich, often lasting into the night.

Nearly 280 Democratic county and senate district conventions were held Saturday, when they were required to be scheduled under state law. Collin County north of Dallas held its convention Sunday because it said it couldn’t find adequate meeting space until then.

A few small counties with only one delegate to the state event had no convention at all.

The urban-area Democratic caucuses, some of them attended by thousands of people, were tension-inducing and slow-going.


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