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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, May 4, 2008

Obama beats Clinton by 7 votes in Guam caucuses

Associated Press

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Four pledged delegate votes were at stake during the Guam Democratic caucuses in the presidential race between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. Citizens in the U.S. territory have no vote in the November U.S. presidential election.

FRANK LIZAMA | Pacific Daily News via AP

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HAGATNA, Guam — Barack Obama defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton by seven votes in the Guam Democratic presidential caucuses yesterday. The count of more than 4,500 ballots took all night.

Neither candidate campaigned in the U.S. island territory in person, but both did long-distance media interviews and bought campaign ads for the caucuses.

Results of the count completed this morning Guam time show delegates pledged to Obama with 2,264 votes to 2,257 for Clinton's slate. That means they'll split the pledged delegate votes. Obama's slate won in 14 of 21 districts.

Clinton issued a statement last night promising, "I will continue to champion the issues facing the people of Guam, and when I'm president, I will ensure that hard-working families of Guam have the resources and the opportunity to succeed."

Obama's campaign had no immediate reaction to the results.

Eight pledged delegates will attend the convention, each with one-half vote. U.S. citizens on the island, however, have no vote in the November election.

The territory also sends five superdelegates to the National Convention in August in Denver.

Voters picked two of the superdelegates, electing uncommitted Pilar Lujan party chairman and Jaime Paulina vice chairman. Paulina ran as an Obama supporter. One other existing superdelegate has favored Clinton and the votes of the other two have not been declared.

All-day voting yesterday had people lining up at 21 caucus sites around the U.S. territorial island, which has unexpected importance in a historic Democratic race in which every delegate matters.

Slow ballot-by-ballot counting went through the night in the territorial legislative building after votes were hand-carried from the caucus sites.