By Gary Barlow

Staff writer

Sen. Hillary Clinton maintained a slight lead Feb. 11 over Sen. Barack Obama in the race for delegates needed to win the Democratic presidential nomination, despite Obama’s victories in four states last weekend.

The Associated Press reported that Clinton had 1,136 delegates Feb. 11, while Obama counted 1,108 backing him. Those totals include super-delegates. It takes 2,025 delegates to win the nomination.

Clinton maintained her lead even after Obama’s wins Feb. 9 in the Louisiana primary and caucuses in Washington and Nebraska. Obama also won the Maine caucus Feb. 10. He had been expected to win all of those contests.

As this newspaper went to press, Obama was looking at contests in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia Feb. 12 to possibly give him a slight edge in delegates. But bigger prizes, notably Ohio and Texas, are coming up March 4, and Clinton hopes to stop Obama’s momentum in those states and in Pennsylvania April 22.

Clinton’s longtime friend and advisor, Patti Solis Doyle, citing the length and rigors of the campaign, stepped down as campaign manager for Clinton Feb. 10. Sources close to the campaign said she was not pressured to resign. Doyle, who will have reduced duties as a senior advisor to Clinton, was replaced by another longtime advisor to the New York senator, Maggie Williams.

Doyle is the sister of Chicago Ald. Danny Solis (25th).

“I have been proud to manage this campaign and prouder still to call Hillary my friend for more than 16 years,” Solis Doyle wrote in a memo to Clinton’s campaign staff. “Maggie is a remarkable person and I am confident that she will do a fabulous job.”

On the Republican side, Arizona Sen. John McCain continued to roll toward his party’s nomination, despite losing to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Kansas and Louisiana Feb. 9. McCain narrowly defeated Huckabee in Washington.

Earlier in the week, two of McCain’s rivals, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Congressman Ron Paul, bowed out of the race, leaving Huckabee as the only challenger. McCain has an apparently insurmountable lead in the race for GOP delegates and picked up a number of key endorsements last week, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.