Long-range campaigning: Clinton and Obama battle for Guam

HAGATNA, Guam — Barack Obama was leading Hillary Rodham Clinton by just 203 votes out of more than 3,500 cast in Democratic presidential caucuses on Guam as counting continued early Sunday.

Obama-pledged delegates led Clinton's slate 1,951 to 1,748 in an election that sparked wide interest even though Guamanians, like other citizens in U.S. territories, have no vote in the November presidential election.

All-day voting Saturday had people lining up at 21 caucus sites around the U.S. territorial island, which has unexpected importance in a historic Democratic race in which every delegate matters.

At stake on the island 8,000 miles from Washington were four pledged delegate votes to be shared among eight elected delegates to the National Democratic Convention in Denver in August.

There was no direct presidential vote, but each candidate had a slate of supporters on the ballot. Guam also has five superdelegates and two of those were being determined in the caucus voting as well _ the party chairman and vice chairman.

Slow ballot-by-ballot counting went through the night in the territorial legislative building after votes were hand-carried from the caucus sites.

Presidential caucuses on Guam usually pass without much notice from the candidates.

This time, Obama and Clinton made their case for the territory's four regular delegates with local advertising and long-distance interviews.