County Democrats Overwhelmed, Still Counting Caucus Results

AUSTIN (AP) – The state Democratic Party has washed its hands of trying to tally the results of last week’s Texas caucuses.

Overwhelmed local officials, meanwhile, continue to grapple with the roundup of 8,700 precinct conventions in what may have been the nation’s largest caucus ever. An estimated 1 million people showed up for the March 4 post-primary caucuses.

That’s more than four times the estimated 220,000 who attended Iowa’s first-in-the nation presidential contest. Less than a week after the caucuses, the state party threw in the towel, saying it had ended a voluntary call-in system when fewer than half the precincts reported.

Just over 40 percent of the precinct caucuses were reported to the state. Barack Obama is leading Hillary Rodham Clinton 56 percent to 44 percent. Caucusing reporting so far have elected 23,918 delegates for Obama and 18,620 for Clinton.

Those delegates will attend the March 29 regional caucuses, where they will be whittled down before the state convention in June. That’s when the final delegate count for the March 4 Texas caucuses will be known.

Clinton won the popular vote in the Texas primary, held the same night. Her 51 percent of the vote, compared to his 47 percent, earned her 65 delegates to his 61.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)