Kerry wins Maine caucuses
Three weekend contests go to Massachusetts senator
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John Kerry addresses the crowd during a rally at Oscar E. Smith High School in Chesapeake, Virginia.
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Kerry wins caucuses in Washington state and Michigan.
Kerry sharpens his attack on the Bush administration.
GOP may target Kerry by labeling him a "Massachusetts liberal."
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| DEMOCRATIC CONTESTS |
• Sunday, February 8: Maine caucuses • Tuesday, February 10: Tennessee and Virginia primaries • Tuesday, February 17:
Wisconsin primary When is your primary? For more key dates in the 2004 election season, see our special America Votes 2004 Election Calendar |
SPECIAL REPORT
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BANGOR, Maine (CNN) -- Sen. John Kerry was projected to win Maine's Democratic caucuses Sunday evening, the third straight weekend victory for the front-runner in the race for the party's presidential nomination.
With the state Democratic Party reporting results from 50 percent of caucus sites, Kerry led former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean by 19 points, and The Associated Press projected the senator from Massachusetts as the winner. (Maine results)
The victory would be Kerry's 10th in 12 primaries and caucuses held so far. In contention in Maine were 24 delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
Kerry entered the Maine contest with the momentum from dominant first-place showings in Saturday's caucuses in Washington and Michigan. He also had the endorsements of Maine's Democratic governor, John Baldacci, and former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell.
Going into Maine's caucuses, Kerry had captured 409 delegates, compared with 174 for Dean, 116 for Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, 82 for retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, 12 for New York civil rights activist Al Sharpton and two for Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio. To win the nomination, a candidate needs 2,161 delegates. (Delegate scorecard)
Dean, struggling to revive his once-promising campaign, was the only candidate who campaigned in the state Sunday, making stops in six cities, hoping his fellow New Englanders didn't give him the cold shoulder.
"Maine folks are just like Vermont people -- they're very independent. And that's a great place to start the turnaround," Dean said after greeting supporters in Bangor who braved sub-zero wind chill to cheer their candidate.
Dean finished second in Saturday's two caucuses. He got 30 percent of the delegate support in Washington, his best showing in any of the nominating contests held so far. But he was nearly 20 points behind Kerry, and 35 points behind him in Michigan.
In an appearance earlier in the day on CNN's "Late Edition," Dean insisted the race is far from over.
"With 15 percent of the delegates selected so far, I question whether Democrats really want to choose somebody that they don't know much about," Dean said. "I just think Democrats ought to be very careful about this.
"I hate to totally gild the lily, but in fact our second-place finishes are stronger than any we've had since New Hampshire," Dean said. "We're starting to come back."
Clark had a dismal showing Saturday, coming in fifth in Michigan, behind Sharpton, and sixth in Washington, behind even former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, who withdrew from the race in January.
But Clark said on "Late Edition" that "we're working on Tennessee and Virginia," which hold primaries Tuesday.
"That's where we have to do well, where we expect to do well, and that's the path to moving ahead," Clark said. "I expect to win at least one of them."
And if he doesn't?
"Well, we're going to move ahead," Clark said. "Wisconsin looks very good for us. But I suspect we'll be there on Super Tuesday, no matter what."
Wisconsin holds its primary February 17. Super Tuesday is March 2, when primaries and caucuses will be held in 10 states. (Interactive election calendar)
Edwards also did not set the world on fire Saturday, coming in third behind Kerry and Dean in Michigan and fourth in Washington, where he was even passed by Kucinich. But he, too, waxed optimistic on Sunday's talk shows.
"Even after Wisconsin, which is still a little over a week away, something like 75 percent of the delegates are left to be chosen, including critical places like New York, Ohio, Georgia," Edwards said on ABC's "This Week." "We have a long way to go to decide who this nominee's going to be."
Edwards also predicted that after Tuesday's races in Tennessee and Virginia, the field would narrow "to probably a two-person race" -- and that he would be one of those two people.
Although Clark and Edwards have been making pushes in Tennessee and Virginia, polls show Kerry leading in both states. The 19-year veteran of the Senate from Massachusetts campaigned Sunday in Virginia, picking up the endorsement of Gov. Mark Warner. (Full story)
Dean has been focusing on Wisconsin, telling supporters last week that it was a must-win state for him. (Full story)
But Sunday he refused to say definitively that he would drop out if he didn't take the Badger State.
"Obviously, we better win in Wisconsin," he said on "Late Edition."
A recent American Research Poll in Wisconsin showed Kerry at 41 percent, Clark at 15 percent, Edwards at 10 percent and Dean at 9 percent.
On Saturday, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees -- one of the largest unions backing Dean -- pulled its support, but the candidate said on "Late Edition" that he still expected to get the votes of individual members. (Full story)
A nationwide CNN/Time poll showed that Kerry was the choice of 43 percent of registered Democrats, compared with 18 percent for Edwards, 11 percent for Clark and 8 percent for Dean. The margin of error was plus or minus 5 percentage points. (Full story)
In a hypothetical matchup, President Bush and Kerry were running about even among likely voters, with their respective support falling well within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.
In a television interview broadcast Sunday on NBC, Bush defended the Iraq war and his economic record, and said he was confident he would win the November election.
"I don't intend to lose," Bush said. (Full story)
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
