Obama beats Clinton in La., Neb., Wash.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois defeated Sen. Hilary Clinton of New York in three widely separated states Saturday -- Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington.

The two are locked in a head-to-head contest for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

With just over half the vote counted in the Louisiana primary, Obama had 53 percent of the vote to 39 percent for Clinton, the New Orleans Times-Picayune said. On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee, was trailing former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

In Nebraska, Obama had 69 percent of the vote with about two-thirds of the caucuses reporting, while Clinton had only 31 percent, The Washington Post reported.

In Washington, where both had significant endorsements and campaigned hard, early returns gave Obama a 2-1 lead, and CNN late Saturday projected Obama the winner.

Earlier Saturday, Huckabee trounced McCain in the Republican presidential caucuses in Kansas. Huckabee took 61 percent of the vote to 22 percent for McCain, widely acknowledged as the front-runner for the Republican nomination. Libertarian Congressman Ron Paul of Texas got 11 percent.

Huckabee has done well in many southern states, but McCain has three times as many delegates.

Republicans were also holding caucuses Saturday in Washington while the Democrats held caucuses in the U.S. Virgin Islands.