(CNN) - Sen. Hillary Clinton has won the February 5 Democratic presidential caucuses in New Mexico, the state party chairman announced Thursday after a count delayed by a large number of provisional ballots.
Clinton, the senator from New York and former first lady, edged out Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois by about 2,000 votes out of the nearly 150,000 cast, New Mexico Democratic Chairman Brian Colon announced nine days after the contest.
The final tally was given as 73,105, or about 49 percent, for Clinton and 71,396, or 48 percent, for Obama.
"With these two Democratic candidates, we had in New Mexico the largest voter turnout in decades," Colon said.
New Mexico is the last of two dozen states that held primaries or caucuses on "Super Tuesday" to complete its count. Colon said the results were delayed as election officials sorted through 17,000 provisional ballots cast during the contest to determine which ones were valid.
Provisional ballots were cast by people whose names did not appear on lists of eligible voters. More than 200 volunteers slogged through the stack of ballots, about half of which were eventually certified, Colon said.
(updated 6 p.m. ET with additional information)
From CNN Politics
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Hmmm maybe now the Clinton's will think caucuses matter.
Shame on the Clintons for implying that any vote cast, caucus or otherwise, in this primary season didn't (or doesn't if you're in WI) matter. Shame on them!
Finally! You go, Hillary! Now let's get Texas, Ohio and Pennyslyvania.
The lady can't win with people that just hate her,well we love her in my state.
Oh, sorry, caucus state. Caucuses are "not significant," according to the Clinton campaign.
Sorry, New Mexico. But please vote Democratic in November.
That's great news! Go Hillary!
Clinton did not break Obama winning streak because this was since February 5. CNN need to do better than this. Obama won all primary and caucuses after February 5.
Wow, all 10 comments here are all against HILLARY, give her some credit guys, SHE WON New Mexico, you are so mean and selfish to HILLARY! Can't believe it!
Clinton '08, baby! She will beat all competitors and become our next president.
That's a bitter angry thing to say Lisa.
She is correct, it is for activists. It happened to go in her favor here – but I don't think her position on caucuses have changed.
You have to REALLY want to caucus to go. It is time consuming and an inconvenience. Primaries are much better and get more people involved.
"Hillary complaint about ties of Obama to Exelon"
Now it turns out that Mr. Penn’s company, Burson Marsteller, has also been an Exelon consultant. An Exelon spokesman confirmed a report today on the Huffington Post that Mr. Penn’s firm was recently paid $230,000 for public relations work last year in New Jersey, where Exelon was seeking to renew a license for one of its nuclear plants.
Mr. Penn’s memo also left out another inconvenient fact, one that had been mentioned in The Times story: Mrs. Clinton was a co-sponsor of Mr. Obama’s radioactive-leaks bill.
Hillary will take the states she needs, like Texas. She is on her way back. Go Hill Go! Either she wins, or I jump she!
I hope the people in Ohio and Texas make a wise decision and not cast their vote for Hillary. Why in the world would we want another Clinton in the White House.
Hillary is not a UNITER BUT A DIVIDER AMOUNG THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
VOTE BARACK OBAMA!!!!
The Clinton spin on this one will definitely be interesting. A caucus state that she wins, but yet again she cannot take more delegates. It is starting to look like, as a result of the delegate counts being so close when she does win, that Clinton will NOT be the nominee.
Wow.
Hillary's comments are a bit unfortunate now that she is declared winner in New Mexico. I think she should apologise to voters in the caucuses nationwide
Stop this shameless copycat:
Copy King's speech tone
Copy Clinton's idea and plan
Can you imagine the future president have nothing in mind, and only know how to use words to misleading minds? and just copy and paste to look like he have something to say?
Only one to one debate can show this guy's true ability, he even can't talk smoothly. Watch the last 1 to 1 debate.
We have voted such a likeable, a uniter in the past 8 years, wake up!
Cnn Please delete those nonsense name calling Osama Obama from the public blog. It a shame that our country men are calling candidate names of people that do us harm.
A pitty my friends watch your words, you aren't talking in your kitchen.
C'mon give the woman a break, she won. If Obama won CNN would probably have a headline like Obama trounces Clinton in NM.
For the record, 2000 votes is a FAR bigger margin than Obama won in numerous states. In Maine Barack won by about 300 votes. Even the red-red states gave Barack a small margin when you look at the numbers.
Also, Clinton cares very much about Wisconsin. She will be spending all weekend there. I am a native and my family is still there, so I hear about it.
Obviously I am a strong Clinton supporter, but I still will commit to support whoever is the nominee, and I would expect the same from Obama supporters. Let's try to focus on the real issue here, people. These flames help only one group: Republicans.
Hey James,
what about Missouri and the other close states. Do they count for Obama?
Get a life!!!!
Yes!!!!!!!! bring it on down to Texas! I can't wait, because Obama will be the the victor!!!!!
The may be some iregularities that when down over there at NM.well it doesn't mean anything for obama cause he is still leading in delegates.OBAMA
So, will she fly down for a victory rally and say "I found my voice and a positive spin"? Or maybe caucus states do count for Clinton, but only if they begin with the word "New" and vote for her.
Hillary Clinton should STEP DOWN. She is not only dividing the democratic party but the country. She has lost the election. All she is concerned about is power, power, power. I am sure Billy and her will work behind the scenes to try to get "delegates" from Michigan and Florida to tip the balance. 4 more years of Clinton, NO !
Liz in CA:
"Who at CNN decided that 49 to 48 percentage is a "WIN" for Clinton? Talk about a technical win….and it certainly doesn't help her in her delegate count. And besides, doesn't she dislike caucus state decisions as not real? OBAMA 08!!!"
Notice Liz does not mention Missouri, which was declared a win for Obama and is constantly cited as among those many states that helped Obama "beat" Clinton on Super Tuesday. Let's not be biased now, dear. A win is a win.
Causes don't count . . . unless she wins them.
States with large African American populations don't count . . . unless she were to win one.
What counts are states broadly representative of the country . . . except, say, Virginia or Maryland.
Please folks, not another four years of the Clinton spin machine.