McCain wins Washington primary; Obama edging Clinton

Sen. John McCain tonight easily won the Washington state GOP primary, while on the Democratic side, Sen. Barack Obama leads Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

McCain has 49 percent of the vote, former Gov. Mike Huckabee has 21 percent, former Gov. Mitt Romney — who has dropped out of the race — 20 percent, and Rep. Ron Paul 7 percent. McCain was winning in every county.

Among Democrats, 50 percent are favoring Obama, and 47 percent Clinton.

McCain, all but assured of the GOP nomination, is running stronger in King County than he is statewide. In the county, McCain has 55 percent, Romney 19 percent, Huckabee 17 percent and Paul 7 percent. Obama is also doing better in King County, with 55 percent of the vote to Clinton's 43 percent.

In Snohomish County, McCain has 49 percent, Huckabee 25 percent, Romney 17 percent and Paul 7 percent. Clinton is receiving 49 percent and Obama 48 percent.

In Pierce County, McCain has 52 percent of the vote, Huckabee 22 percent, Romney 18 percent and Paul 6 percent. Among Democrats, Clinton has 52 percent and Obama 45 percent.

The Democratic primary results essentially serve only as an opinion poll, as the party will allocate its 97 delegates based on the results of the Feb. 9 caucuses and upcoming conventions and caucuses.

State Republicans will allocate about half of their 40 delegates to the national convention based on the primary, and the rest based on caucuses and conventions. Washington is the only state where the GOP uses both a primary and caucuses to apportion delegates.

In the Feb. 9 GOP caucuses, delegates favoring McCain edged Huckabee by 25.3 to 23.2 percent. Another 21.5 percent of delegates preferred Paul, and 15.5 percent preferred Romney. The rest were mainly uncommitted.

In the Democratic caucuses, Obama trounced Clinton, winning 67.5 percent of the delegates to Clinton's 31.2 percent. The rest were mainly uncommitted.

Local issues

A number of local issues were also on the primary ballot.

All nine school districts in King and Snohomish counties that voted on operating levies are approving them. The votes, along with dozens of others around the state, are the first test of the new simple-majority rule.

In November, state voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing school-district levies to pass with a simple majority of the vote, instead of 60 percent.

In Federal Way, a measure to switch to a "strong mayor" form of government was trailing by a narrow margin.