Net Results

It is inarguable that Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee each had an outstanding day on Saturday. Obama trounced Hillary Rodham Clinton in Nebraska, the state of Washington and Louisiana. Huckabee -- trying to emerge as a bona fide alternative to front-runner John McCain before the latter achieves the major number of delegates he needs to clinch the GOP nomination -- ran rampant in Kansas, was clinging late to a narrow lead in Louisiana, and trailed McCain narrowly in Washington.

The one caveat is that both candidates were running on turf that, as had been seen in earlier events, was favorable to them.

The Nebraska Democrats, Kansas Republicans and both parties in Washington held caucus events Saturday. Caucuses traditionally are conducive to strong showings by candidates with strong activist bases, which is true of both Obama and Huckabee. So it's not surprising they did well in those contests.

The Louisiana primary also was tailor-made for both of these candidates. Obama, who has dominated the African-American vote in voting so far as he seeks to become the nation's first black president, ran in a state in which roughly a third of the residents and a larger percentage of the Democratic electorate are black. Huckabee's strongest showings during the primary and caucus season also have been in his native South, where his background as Southern Baptist minister and his socially conservative views appeal to large numbers of the region's evangelical Christians.