Presidential candidates set sights on weekend contests
Obama and Clinton will face off in five battlegrounds; McCain, Huckabee and Paul in three.
Democratic presidential candidates, locked in a virtual tie in delegates, turned their attention to the state of Washington today, the largest of five contests this weekend.
Three of the battles -- in Washington, Nebraska and Maine -- are caucuses and in the Virgin Islands, there will be a territorial convention. Louisiana will hold a primary. All of the contests are on Saturday, except for Maine's, which is on Sunday.
More than half the Democratic delegates have been chosen: New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has 1,045 and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has 960, according to the Associated Press. Other counts have placed even less daylight between the contenders.
There are 185 delegates at stake this weekend, with 2,025 needed to win the nomination.
Obama this morning toured a factory in Seattle, then held a rally in the city.
"I was convinced that the American people were hungry, were desperate for a different kind of politics, a politics that wasn't based on tearing each other down, but was based on lifting the country up," Obama told a cheering crowd.
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire today announced she was backing Obama.
The endorsement is important because it could help Obama win more support from women, many of whom have tended to favor Clinton. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell of Washington have endorsed Clinton, who will hold events in Tacoma and Spokane.
"Tomorrow you get a chance to help pick a president," Clinton told a rally of nurses in Tacoma that was broadcast on cable television. "You know, if this were a primary where everybody could vote all day, I'd feel pretty good about it.
"But it's not, it's a caucus. And you got to show up at 1 o'clock, and I already met three nurses outside and I said, 'Are you going to caucus for me?' and they said, 'Well, we're working tomorrow.'
"So I need all of you to redouble your efforts to go to the caucuses tomorrow. To be there and to stand up for what we need in a president," she said.
Obama is expected to do well this weekend because of the large number of caucuses. His campaign has been effective at capturing delegates at the caucuses since Iowa propelled his campaign into overdrive in January.
On the Republican side, three presidential nomination contests are on tap this weekend. But much of the drama ended Thursday when former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney ended his campaign after a comparatively weak showing on Super Tuesday.
