Kerry sweeps caucuses
Dean follows in Michigan, Washington
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Sen. John Kerry greets the crowd at a rally in Richmond, Virginia.
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Stay with CNN-USA all weekend for live coverage of the presidential caucuses in Maine, and for updates and analysis of the campaign.
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Sen. John Kerry speaks at a rally in Virginia in the wake of projected victories in Michigan and Washington state.
Al Gore's sharp rhetoric against President Bush and the GOP may show the former vice president is shifting to the left, analysts say.
CNN's Jeff Flock on Internet voting in Michigan.
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| DEMOCRATIC CONTESTS |
• Sunday, February 8: Maine caucuses • Tuesday, February 10: Tennessee and Virginia primaries • Tuesday, February 17:
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SPECIAL REPORT
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(CNN) -- Democratic front-runner Sen. John Kerry swept Saturday's caucuses with victories in Michigan and in Washington state.
The Democratic battleground now shifts to the Northeast, where Maine holds caucuses Sunday; then southward, with Tennessee and Virginia holding primaries Tuesday.
With 100 percent of Michigan caucuses reporting, Kerry had 52 percent of the vote, and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean was a distant second with 17 percent. Sen. John Edwards had 13 percent, followed by New York civil rights activist Al Sharpton and retired Gen. Wesley Clark with 7 percent each, and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio with 3 percent.
With 99 percent of precincts reporting in Washington, Kerry claimed 48 percent of the delegates selected Saturday. Dean trailed with 30 percent. Rep. Dennis Kucinich had his best showing of the campaign, coming in third with 8 percent of the delegates. Edwards followed with 7 percent, Clark with 3 percent and civil rights activist Al Sharpton with less than 1 percent.
Michigan will send 128 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, and Washington will send 76.
Kerry labels Bush 'extreme'
Kerry told a Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner in Richmond, Virginia, that President Bush has abandoned "mainstream values" to pursue policies "fundamentally at odds with our history."
The Massachusetts senator said President Bush has weakened the country both at home and abroad, by running up record budget deficits and overextending the military.
"This administration has run the most arrogant, inept, reckless and ideological foreign policy in our history, and we intend to hold them accountable," Kerry told the audience of Virginia Democrats.
Kerry said he was prepared for attacks by what he called "the Republican smear machine" and vowed, "I've only just begun to fight."
Shortly after he spoke, Virginia Democratic sources said Kerry would get the endorsement of the state's governor, Mark Warner, in Tuesday's presidential primary, but neither Warner's office nor Kerry's campaign would immediately confirm that.
Dean, who spent the day at home in Burlington, Vermont, lost the backing of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees on Saturday, Dean campaign officials told CNN. The union, which has about 1.4 million members, withdrew the endorsement that it granted in November, when Dean was leading the polls
Dean has not won any caucuses or primaries in the campaign, and is concentrating his efforts in the February 17 Wisconsin primary. His campaign has sent an e-mail to supporters saying Wisconsin is a must-win contest. On Friday, Dean suggested that he hasn't ruled out accepting a vice presidential slot. (Full story)
Edwards: Wisconsin wide open
Edwards has campaigned extensively in Tennessee and Virginia, both set to hold primaries Tuesday. Of the 11 states that have held nominating contests so far, he has won only his native South Carolina.
But in a campaign stop Saturday in Wisconsin, he said he believed that state's February 17 primary was still "wide open"
A new poll shows Kerry leading in the state and Edwards in a close race with Clark and Dean for second place.
Edwards said he is fighting for victory in Virginia, Tennessee and Wisconsin, but did not describe those states as must-wins. He told reporters Saturday "I'd like to be in the top two" in Tennessee and Virginia. (CNN.com's interactive Election Calendar)
Clark, whose day was packed with stops in Virginia, told the audience at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner that he was "the toughest person in this race." The former NATO commander sharply criticized Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq and said, "I've forgotten more about national security than George W. Bush will ever learn."
"I'm not a Washington insider, I'm a Washington outsider," he said. "While others have been talking and debating, I've been deciding and doing."
Going into Saturday's contests, Kerry had captured 260 delegates, compared with 121 for Dean, 107 for Edwards, 80 for Clark, six for Sharpton and two for Kucinich.
Those totals include delegates won in primaries and caucuses as well as candidate endorsements by so-called "superdelegates," Democratic office-holders and officials who get an automatic vote to July's Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts.
To win the nomination at the party's convention, a candidate needs 2,161 delegates.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
