Caucus tally complete; Clinton wins New Mexico

Hillary Clinton has won the Democratic caucus in New Mexico, according to official, final totals released today by the Democratic Party of New Mexico.

The final results had Clinton with 73,105 votes, or 48.8 percent, to Barack Obama’s 71,396 votes, or 47.6 percent.

“I am so proud to have earned the support of New Mexicans from across the state,” Clinton said in a statement released by her campaign. “From strengthening the economy to providing health care for every American to jumpstarting a clean-energy future, New Mexicans want real solutions to our nation’s challenges. As president, I will continue to stand up for New Mexico and will hit the ground running on day one to bring about real change.”

The victory means Clinton won 14 delegates from New Mexico out of 26 that were up for grabs. Obama won the other 12.

(I erroneously reported earlier that 17 of the 26 would be divided proportionately and the other nine would go to the winner. I was told that by a party official, and it’s just another example of the confusion that surrounded this election. In reality, the party has a complicated formula for dividing the delegates roughly proportionately.)

John Edwards finished with 2,157 votes, Bill Richardson finished with 1,305, Dennis Kucinich finished with 574, Joe Biden finished with 122 and Chris Dodd finished with 81.

In a news release, state party Chairman Brian Colón said 3,500 registered voters who aren’t Democrats tried to vote in the party’s caucus.

“Clearly, their message to us was they want change in this country,” he said. “My message to them is, ‘We couldn’t agree more. While we couldn’t accept your vote in our Democratic caucus, we welcome your vote at the general election this November.’”

Click here for a breakdown of statewide totals and here for totals by county.