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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama easily swept Democratic presidential contests in three states on Saturday, striking the latest blows in a bruising back-and-forth battle with Hillary Clinton for the party's nomination.
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama applauds at the end of his speech at the Virginia Democratic Party Jefferson Jackson dinner in Richmond, Virginia February 9, 2008. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria)

Among Republicans, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won contests in Louisiana and Kansas over front-runner John McCain, highlighting conservative discontent with the Arizona senator two days after he essentially sewed up the nomination.

Obama scored decisive wins in Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington to gain a small dose of momentum in a deadlocked, state-by-state fight with Clinton for Democratic convention delegates who will choose the party's presidential nominee in the November election.

"Today, the voters from the West Coast to the Gulf Coast to the heart of America stood up to say yes, we can," Obama said at a party dinner in Richmond, Virginia, a state that votes on Tuesday.

"We won in Louisiana, we won in Nebraska, we won in Washington state, we won North, we won South, we won in between, and I believe that we can win Virginia on Tuesday if you're ready to stand for change," the Illinois senator said.

The wins by Huckabee, a Baptist minister whose campaign has been fueled by support from religious conservatives, came in states with big conservative voting blocs and did not change McCain's daunting advantage in the Republican race.

McCain managed to hold off Huckabee and the third candidate in the Republican race, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, with a narrow victory in Washington state, according to the two major newspapers in Seattle, the state's largest city.

McCain has more than 700 of the 1,191 delegates needed to capture the Republican nomination at this summer's convention. He virtually clinched the race on Thursday with the withdrawal of his chief rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

But Huckabee said he would not give up, telling a conference of conservative activists in Washington, D.C., he would continue his shoestring campaign until McCain mathematically won the nomination.

McCain still faces widespread opposition from conservatives unhappy with his views on immigration, tax cuts and other issues.

"I did not major in math, but I majored in miracles, and I still believe in them," Huckabee said at a rally at the University of Maryland in College Park.

Huckabee won about 60 percent of the vote in Kansas, more than double McCain's total. He narrowly beat McCain in Louisiana.

EASY WINS

Obama cruised to easy wins in Nebraska and Washington, doubling Clinton's tally by capturing more than 60 percent of the vote. He comfortably beat Clinton in Louisiana, winning more than half of the vote. Obama also won easily in the U.S. territory of the Virgin Islands.

Clinton, a New York senator, and Obama are about even in pledged delegates after contests in more than half of the U.S. states, but both are well short of the 2,025 needed to win the nomination.

Democratic rules allocate delegates on a proportional basis statewide and in congressional districts, meaning even the loser in each state can win big blocks of delegates. There also are another 796 "super-delegates," elected officials and party insiders, who can switch their support at any time.

It was not immediately clear how the delegate count would break down in Saturday's vote, with a combined 161 pledged delegates. The Obama camp said it won just more than 100 of those delegates up for grabs.

Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, had been the favorite in all three contests. In Louisiana, he benefited from a high percentage of black voters, his strongest supporters.

Exit polls showed blacks made up about half of the turnout in the state, and Obama won four of every five of their votes. Clinton captured about 70 percent of whites, with Obama taking about one-quarter of their vote.

The contests in Nebraska and Washington were caucuses, which require voters to turn up at specific times and typically attract more motivated voters. Obama has focused on caucus states, where his advantages in organization and grass-roots enthusiasm come into play.

Obama and Clinton will square off again on Sunday in Maine, a caucus state, before they head into Tuesday's round of contests in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.