(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-16 09:15

Obama won the state's precinct caucuses in January with 39 percent of the vote, with Edwards narrowly edging Clinton to finish second. Projections on caucus night showed Obama getting 16 delegates, compared to 15 for Clinton and 14 for Edwards.

"It means the Obama people are very organized," said Iowa Democratic Chairman Scott Brennan. "They have been working very hard for these conventions."

Brennan said turnout was heavy, with more than 13,000 activists showing up at conventions in the state's 99 counties.

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., walks as she holds Molly Emma Gaffney as father Jack Gaffney looks on from right during the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Scranton, Pa., Saturday, March 15, 2008. At left is Scranton Mayor Christopher A. Doherty. [Agencies]

"Today, Iowa Democrats again turned out in large numbers to reject the failed Bush-McCain campaign and its policies," said Brennan.

Edwards finished second in the state's leadoff precinct caucuses on Jan. 3, but those caucuses are only the first step in a complicated process of picking the state's 45 pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August.

The next step in that process was Saturday with selection of delegates to congressional district and state conventions. Party officials said the results Saturday marked the election of 2,173 of the 2,500 delegates who will go to those convention.

The epic presidential race between Clinton and Obama has been reshaped since Iowa's caucuses, but is no less intense with every delegate carrying weight.

"Every single one counts and that's why we've been here organizing," said Teresa Vilmain, a field organizer for Clinton.

"We've filled all of our slots," said Gordon Fischer, a former Iowa Democratic chairman who is organizing for Obama.

Rob Tully, a Des Moines lawyer and prominent Edwards backer, sent an e-mail to supporters urging them to remain neutral, but there was clear movement to Obama when the results were tallied.

"Barack Obama stands for a lot of the same things that John Edwards stood for," said Ro Foege, a state legislator from Mount Vernon who switched to the Obama camp.

The county conventions are traditionally sleepy gatherings where party leaders have trouble gathering a quorum to conduct business, largely because the party usually has a nominee by this point. With the race still up for grabs, activists jammed school gymnasiums, auditoriums and meeting halls across the state.

Former Gov. Tom Vilsack, a Clinton backer, spoke to more than 1,200 delegates jammed into a suburban high school gym.

"The reality is we are united on one thing today, we are Democrats, we are proud Democrats and we are going to elect a Democratic president," said Vilsack, who dropped his own bid for the nomination even before the voting began. "Let us pledge that we will unite behind our nominee — be it he or she."

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