Obama wins Hawaii caucuses

Maybe they should've called it " Hawaii 10-0," as Sen. Barack Obama now has ten straight wins after besting Sen. Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's Hawaii caucuses.

Neither Obama nor Clinton campaigned in person for Hawaii's 20 delegate votes, but both recently had surrogates in the 50th state -- Clinton employed daughter Chelsea and Obama had half-sister Maya Soetero-Ng appear on his behalf. Obama, who was born and spent part of his youth on Hawaii, ran radio ads in recent weeks stressing his "native son" credentials.

On Tuesday night, in an e-mail to his supporters before the Hawaii victory was announced, Obama said winning there could foretell future successes: "If we win in Hawaii, it will be ten straight victories -- a streak no one thought possible, and the best position we can be in when Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont vote on March 4th."

In satellite television interviews with Hawaii affiliates Tuesday, Clinton used her time to reiterate criticism about Obama lifting lines from the speeches of Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, and arguing that such actions reflect a difference between her and her rival.

"The real issue is if your entire candidacy is about words, they should be your own words. And you may know that both Deval Patrick and Sen. Obama have the same consultant and adviser, who is apparently putting words in both of their mouths. And I think that's a serious question to be raised because, obviously, we're asking the people of Hawaii to hire us for the toughest job in the world," she told KGMB TV 9, the CBS affiliate in Honolulu.

To another Honolulu station, Clinton said, "it's not us making this charge. It's the media."

Clinton continued, "You know, the media is finally examining my opponent, which I think is important because we're trying to pick a president, someone for the toughest job in the world. So I think the media is going to be putting forth whatever facts and information it has for voters to assess on their own."

The New York Times reported on Monday that similarities existed between an Obama speech in Wisconsin over the weekend and one delivered by Patrick in 2006. The Times also noted that the similarities "were highlighted by a rival campaign that did not want to be identified."

Beyond Tuesday's biggest delegate state of Wisconsin, where Obama also won decisively, Washington state Republicans and Democrats held primaries Tuesday, although Democrats will award delegates based on the Feb. 9 caucuses there. Washington Republicans will split the 37 delegates between the winners of the caucuses, which McCain won, and Tuesday night's primary, which McCain also was winning early Wednesday morning.

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