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Obama wins Maine caucuses, CNN projects

  • Story Highlights
  • With a Maine win, Obama sweeps weekend's presidential contests
  • Clinton shakes up her campaign Sunday by replacing her campaign manager
  • "It's hard to see a win for Sen. Clinton into March," says former Edwards adviser
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(CNN) -- Illinois Sen. Barack Obama will win Sunday's Democratic caucuses in Maine, sweeping the weekend's presidential contests, CNN projects.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Obama was leading Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York 59 percent to 40 percent. At stake are 24 delegates to August's Democratic national convention in Denver.

Obama's projected victory follows a sweep in Saturday's Louisiana primary and Democratic caucuses in Nebraska, Washington and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Those contests gave him a lead over Clinton in pledged delegates to the convention, but Clinton still held a narrow edge over Obama when "superdelegates" -- elected officials and party leaders -- are included in the tally, according to CNN estimates.

Most of Maine was under winter storm warnings or snow advisories during the caucuses Sunday afternoon. Video Watch Obama talk about how he can beat McCain »

After Saturday's results and a split decision in last week's Super Tuesday contests, Clinton shook up her campaign Sunday by replacing campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle with longtime adviser Maggie Williams, her campaign announced Sunday.

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Advisers also sought to lower expectations for this month's remaining Democratic contests, which are expected to favor Obama, to focus on a larger cache of delegates up for grabs in March.

"Although the next several states that hold nominating contests this month are more favorable to the Obama campaign, we will continue to compete in them and hope to secure as many delegates as we can before the race turns to Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania," read a statement from Clinton's campaign.

Those states have high concentrations of voters who have been strong Clinton supporters -- Latinos in Texas and blue-collar workers in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

But Joe Trippi, an adviser to former Democratic contender John Edwards, said Sunday that Obama had "a full head of steam" after Saturday's wins and was poised to win this week's "Potomac Primaries" in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia.

"It's hard to see a win for Sen. Clinton into March, into Ohio and Texas, which I think was what they're counting on," Trippi told CBS' "Face the Nation." "But even that's in jeopardy, I think, as Obama builds some momentum here."

Obama also beat two former Democratic presidents to win a Grammy award on Sunday night.

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His recording of his book, "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream," took the recording academy's award for best spoken word album -- topping former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

Maine's Republican caucuses were held February 2, with Mitt Romney taking 52 percent of the vote. The former Massachusetts governor suspended his campaign days later, leaving Sen. John McCain as the solid favorite for the GOP nomination. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

All About Democratic CaucusBarack ObamaHillary Clinton

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