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1st LD Writethru: Sanders wins Maine Democratic caucuses

Xinhua, March 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

Democrat Bernie Sanders won the Maine Democratic caucuses on Sunday as he sought to close the big delegates lead held by Hillary Clinton, according to local media projections.

Shortly after the caucuses ended at 8 p.m. local time (1500GMT), Sanders was declared winner of the Democratic field by local media outlets.

Early results with 80 percent of all votes counted show Sanders won 64.2 percent compared to Clinton's 35.6 percent.

However, Sanders' commanding victory on Sunday would do little to alter the broader contours of a race in which Clinton maintained significant delegate leads over him.

Clinton entered the contest on Sunday with a substantial edge over Sanders in terms of pledged delegates, with 610 to 411.

On the Republican side, Florida Senator Marco Rubio on Sunday scored his second victory since the 2016 Republican presidential nomination process began on Feb. 1.

Rubio, the junior U.S. senator from Florida, was projected by U.S. major TV as the winner of the Puerto Rico Republican primary shortly after all polls closed.

Because Rubio won more than half of the votes, he ended up winning all 23 delegates at stake.

However, Rubio's big win on Sunday also had little impact on the Republican nomination process.

New York billionaire developer Donald Trump and Texas Ted Cruz entered Sunday with 382 and 300 delegates respectively, compared to Rubio's 128 delegates, according to a New York Times delegate count.

After his limp showing in February contests, Super Tuesday contests and Super Saturday contests, Rubio, once regarded by mainstream Republicans as an alternative to Trump after Jeb Bush bowed out, was facing an uphill battle to justify his stay in the race.

The upcoming Florida Republican primary on March 15, when 99 delegates would be awarded for the first time in this primary season based on the "winner-take-all" rule, could be the last chance for Rubio to convince mainstream Republicans that he, rather than Cruz, was the one for them to rally around.

However, multiple polls all showed that Rubio now trailed Trump by large margins in his home state Florida. Endi