Clinton Beats Obama in Puerto Rico

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Primary Campaigns Come to a Close

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) clinches enough pledged delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, as polls closed in the last state primary elections in South Dakota and Montana, June 3, 2008.

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Clinton's demonstrated strength among Hispanic voters during the primary process and her popularity among the large Puerto Rican community in New York (more than one million residents, according to the 2000 Census) combined to give the Empire State senator a significant leg up.

Clinton also lavished Puerto Rico with attention. She and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, and the couple's daughter Chelsea spent 14 combined days there of late. Hillary Clinton spent Saturday touring local communities on the back of a flatbed truck. Today she made stops in and around San Juan, the country's capital city.

"Campaigning in Puerto Rico is like one long Puerto Rican Day Parade," Clinton said on Saturday, in a reference to the annual celebration in New York City. "It is incredibly energizing, exciting."

Obama devoted far less time to Puerto Rico. His most recent campaign visit was last weekend, and he spent Sunday campaigning in South Dakota. The Illinois Senator will travel to Michigan and Minnesota -- two key general election battlegrounds -- in the early part of this coming week.

Election officials were preparing for lower-than-average turnout, estimating that a quarter or fewer of the island's 2.3 million registered voters would go to the polls. There are no local candidates or initiatives on the ballot, and the battle between Clinton and Obama appears all but over.

Washington Post staff writers Anne E. Kornblut and Shailagh Murray and polling director Jon Cohen contributed to this report