GOP's Huckabee, Dems' Obama win Iowa caucuses

DES MOINES -- Barack Obama won Thursday's Iowa Democratic caucuses and Mike Huckabee was the victor in the GOP race, providing major boosts to both campaigns with the New Hampshire primary only days away.

With 86% of precincts reporting, Huckabee had 34% of the GOP vote, followed by Mitt Romney with 25%, Fred Thompson and John McCain with 13% and Ron Paul with 10%.

On the Democratic side, with 98% of precincts reporting, Obama had 38% of the vote, followed by John Edwards with 30% and Hillary Rodham Clinton with 29%.

"I'm amazed, but I'm encouraged, because what we've seen is a new day in American politics," said Huckabee.

Huckabee a former minister and Arkansas governor, was heavily outspent by Romney in Iowa but was ahead in recent polls. He was depending on strong support from the state's evangelical community.

"The first thing we've learned is people really are more important than the purse. What a great lesson for America to learn," he said.

More than half of Republican caucus voters said they were born-again or evangelical Christians, and nearly half of them supported Huckabee, according to entrance interviews by the Associated Press and the television networks. Romney led among non-evangelical voters by 2-to-1 or more.

"I've been pleased that I've been able to make up ground and I intend to keep making up ground, not just here but across the country," Romney said after the election. As a former governor from neighboring Massachusetts, Romney's prospects in New Hampshire may be stronger than they were in Iowa.

Obama, a senator from neighboring Illinois, is bidding to become the nation's first black president. He won the caucuses in a state that was 94.6% white in 2006, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

"On this January night, at this defining moment in history, you have done what the cynics said we couldn't do," Obama told cheering supporters. "We came together as Democrats, Republicans and independents to say we are one nation, we are one people, and our time has come."

Obama pledged to "build a coalition that stretches through red states and blue states" in his drive to become president.

Clinton told supporters the results showed Democrats "are sending a clear message — that we are going to have change, and the change is going to be a Democratic president in 2009." She also went back to familiar themes, saying Democrats should "nominate a candidate who will go the distance, and who will be the best president on Day One."

"I am so ready for the rest of this campaign and I am so ready to lead," she said.

"The one thing that's clear from the results in Iowa tonight is the status quo lost and change won," Edwards told his supporters. He said the results had "started a tidal wave of change."

Iowa may set up an epic Obama-Clinton showdown in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. That battle could be partly generational.

Surveys of voters entering polling places indicated Clinton's support was 2 to 1 over Obama's among those 65 and older.

Obama's support was 5 to 1 over Clinton among those 30 and younger.Half were first-time caucusgoers — a group most targeted by Obama.

The entry polls, sponsored by the Associated Press and TV networks, found that about half said a candidate's ability to bring about needed change was the most important factor in choosing a candidate. That was more than twice as many who cited experience, Clinton's trump card.

For some candidates, Thursday results paved the way to an exit.

Democrats Chris Dodd and Joseph Biden, senator from Connecticut and Delaware respectively, were poised to leave the race, the Associated Press reported late Thursday. Each drew less than 2% of the final caucus votes.

"I think there are three — maybe four — tickets out of Iowa and if we don't get one of those three or four, at least in my case, I'll be heading back (home) to Hartford tomorrow morning,"Dodd said earlier Thursday in a Fox News interview with Chris Wallace. "And if I get one of those four tickets, I have a plane waiting to take me to Manchester, N.H. tonight."

Earlier Thursday, Thompson denied reports that he was considering dropping out of the GOP race after Iowa.

"At the end of the evening, things are going to look different to all of us," he told Tim Russert on MSNBC. "Some may get shellacked, some may get a strong wind to our back. I expect a strong win. We'll see."

The focus immediately moves to New Hampshire, which holds its primary Tuesday. McCain was already there campaigning Thursday night.

Huckabee's victory sets the stage for a three-way contest there with Romney and McCain, who won the state in 2000.For Huckabee, New Hampshire will test whether he's a one-state wonder.

"Negative campaigns don't work. They don't work there (in Iowa) and they don't work here in New Hampshire," McCain told supporters Thursday night as the results came in. The remark was an apparent shot at Romney, who went on the attack against Huckabee in the days leading up to the caucuses.

Rudy Giuliani, who tallied only 4% of the Iowa vote, turned his attention elsewhere. He was campaigning in Florida on Thursday night.

Obama, Clinton and Edwards spent at least $19 million on television advertising among them, and all three capped their campaigns with statewide broadcasts on Wednesday. Romney told supporters in a final day-long swing around the state he had been in 68 of 99 counties since he began his quest for the White House, had spent 55 days in Iowa and spoken before 248 separate audiences.

Some Iowans seemed ready for the campaign to end. Bob Wiedmann, a retired Indianola contractor, hopes whoever wins the presidency will pass a law barring political phone solicitations.

"I have had, I swear, 200 phone calls," he said.

Contributing: Susan Page, Jill Lawrence, Kathy Kiely and David Jackson in Iowa; Douglas Stanglin and Randy Lilleston in McLean, Va.; Associated Press