Obama wins very rural Maine and its more rural CD

Maine, the second most rural state by population (60 percent rural; Vermont is 62%), offered some hope of respite for Hillary Clinton amid an expected string of victories by Barack Obama in their struggle for the Democratic presidential nomination. She won New Hampshire, which often suggests the outcome in Maine (which borders no other state). But in today's caucuses, Obama won not only statewide, but in the even more rural, northern 2nd Congressional District. Obama campaigned Saturday in the district's largest city, Bangor. (Photo by Gabor Degre, Bangor Daily News)

With 90 percent of the caucuses reporting, Obama had 59 percent of the precinct delegates, and 56 percent of those in the 2nd District. He carried Bangor, "a city that Clinton was expected to, and really had to, win," writes Al Giordano in The Field. "In Maine, Obama had been behind Clinton in every single poll by as many as 36 points before 2008 – and the voting – began."(Read more) Clinton's loss "was not a total surprise to her team, though she had been leading in some polls," report Anne Kornblut and Dan Balz in The Washington Post.

In The New York Times, Kit Seelye calls Maine "Mrs. Clinton’s sliver of hope for February. . . . She had been hopeful because Maine’s demographics, blue-collar voters, who are older and make less than $50,000, fit the profile of voters who had supported her elsewhere. But Maine is a caucus state, and Mr. Obama has won almost all caucuses, which depend on deep organization and a passionate following."

"Massive numbers of voters braved inclement weather," writes Jonathan Kaplan of the Portland Press-Herald. He quotes Obama campaign manager David Plouffe as calling the result an upset, "adding that internal polling showed Clinton in the lead days before the caucus." The Daily News staff reports on caucuses in Bangor, Belfast and the Canadian border towns of Houlton and Calais.

Maine Republicans caucused Feb. 2 and gave 52 percent of their vote, and all the state's national convention delegates, to Mitt Romney.