Washington: Presidential hopeful Barack Obama continued his weekend winning spree over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by bagging the Maine caucuses to sweep all five contests during the last two days.
Even before the Maine loss on Sunday, Hillary, stung by defeats a day earlier in Nebraska, Washington state, Louisiana and the US Virgin Islands, replaced her campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle with long time aide Maggie Williams.
The reshuffle came ahead of the so-called Potomac primaries --nomination races in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. -- that Hillary needs to widen her delegate lead in a deadlocked race that could last until the party's national convention in August. The two states and the U.S. capital all have sizable number of black Democratic voters, a constituency that has aided Obama in earlier contests.
In the latest overall totals, Hillary had 1,136 delegates to 1,108 for Obama. The totals include so-called superdelegates, which are party leaders not chosen at primaries or caucuses, free to change their minds. A total of 2,025 delegates is required to win the nomination at the national convention in Denver in late August.
In Maine, with 95 per cent of the participating precincts reporting, Obama led with 59 per cent of the vote, to 40 per cent for Hillary. Obama won 15 of Maine's delegates to the national convention and Hillary won nine.
Obama, who seeks to be the U.S.'s first black president, was buoyant after his weekend winning sweep. He even won a Grammy on Sunday for his audio version of his book ''The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts On Reclaiming The American Dream,'' beating former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter in the best spoken word album category.
''I have the ability to bring people together,'' he said. Because of that, he said, ''I think I can beat John McCain more effectively,'' in a reference that highlighted a shift in both his and Hillary's campaign aimed at addressing the challenge the presumptive Republican nominee would pose in the November general elections.
Earlier Sunday, Obama, campaigning in Virginia said Hillary is ''a capable person'' and ''vast improvement'' over Republican President George W. Bush, but added that the public sees the New York senator as part of a divisive political era when the government was gridlocked and Republicans won control of Congress.
New polls released Sunday showed Obama leading Hillary by 16 percentage points in Virginia and 18 percentage points in Maryland.
The remaining Democratic calendar for February does not look favorable for Clinton. But she is looking for a big rebound in the high-stakes March 4 primaries in Texas and Ohio.
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