MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

USA: Obama, Huckabee win Iowa Caucuses

The two winners will be looking to capitalise on the momentum - or 'big mo' - gained in Iowa

Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee have won their party caucuses in the US state of Iowa, the first test in the race to choose the candidates for president.

Bidding to become the first black president of the US, Obama, a first-term senator, beat rivals John Edwards and Hillary Clinton on Thursday for the Democratic vote. Obama described the result as a "defining moment in history" and drove home his one nation message. Huckabee, a Baptist preacher turned Arkansas governor, was a virtual unknown until the final weeks of the Republicans' campaign. He defeated Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, despite being outspent by tens of millions of dollars. Nearly complete returns showed Obama getting 37 per cent support from Iowans, with Edwards pushing Clinton, who hopes to become the US's first female president, into third place. Huckabee's winning margin was greater than Obama's, picking up 34 per cent support to Romney's 25 per cent. The victories give Obama and Huckabee a powerful boost for the five-week period ahead that will culminate in more than two dozen electoral contests on February 5. In his speech to supporters, including an influx of new caucus-goers, Obama went on to say: "They said this day would never come. They said our sights were set too high... But on this January night, on this defining moment in history, you have done what the cynics said we couldn't do. You did what the state of New Hampshire can do in five days. "We are choosing hope over fear, we are choosing unity over division and sending a powerful message that change is coming to America." After months of furious political campaigning, the 16 candidates in the race for the two parties' nominations plunged into the state-by-state battle on Thursday. In the final hours before the caucuses on Thursday night, many candidates bought time on local television to drive home their message and encourage maximum voter turnout.