The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Hagatna

Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama on Saturday defeated rival Hillary Clinton in caucuses on the tiny US Pacific island of Guam, a small but welcome victory after several rough weeks on the campaign trail.

Obama won the island's caucuses by seven votes, winning 14 of the island's 21 districts and finishing with 2,264 votes against 2,257 for Clinton, local party officials said.

It was not immediately clear whether the four pledged delegates from Guam's caucuses would be split evenly between Obama and Clinton-Guam, like most Democratic Party nominating contests, uses a complicated formula of proportionally doling out the spoils based on a variety of factors.

Clinton issued a statement congratulating Obama for "running a vigorous campaign" and said she looks "forward to our next contests in Indiana and North Carolina."

Voter turnout on the island more than 8,000 miles (12,900 kilometres) from Washington was 25 percent higher than the 4,000 party officials expected on Saturday. The island's residents, while US citizens, cannot vote in November's presidential election.

Neither candidate traveled to Guam, but both gave interviews to local media.

Clinton and Obama meanwhile lashed out at each other over rising gas prices ahead of the latest milestone in their marathon battle for the Democratic White House nomination. In Indiana, front-runner Obama made another attempt to connect with working-class voters who have mainly backed Clinton and frustrated his attempts to knock her out of the race. In a speech in Indianapolis, the Illinois senator, hoping to become the first black US president, said the faltering US economy, high gas and food prices were threatening the American dream.

"This economy doesn't just jeopardize our financial wellbeing, it offends the most basic values that have made this country what it is: the idea that America is the place where you can make it if you try," he said.

Obama also reiterated his opposition to a plan by Republican presumptive nominee John McCain, which Clinton has endorsed, for a short-term cut in the federal gasoline tax in response to rising pump prices. "There's not an expert out there that believes that this is going to work," he said, citing estimates that it would save little but could raise gas prices.

"Now, Senator Clinton and Senator McCain have been using this issue to make the argument that I'm somehow 'out of touch,'" he said.

"Only in Washington can you get away with calling someone out of touch when you're the one who thinks that 30 cents a day is enough to help people who are struggling in this economy."

But Clinton styled herself as the best person to make "those changes real in our daily lives," as she campaigned in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

"I know the difference between making speeches and implementing solutions," the New York senator said, seeking to slam Obama as inexperienced.

"Those prices that are going up, gas prices and grocery prices, are really taking a big chunk out of people's disposable income."

She challenged Obama's claim that the tax cut would not help people, and insisted there was "no contradiction" between trying to provide short-term relief and having a long-term plan to address the problem.

"I believe completely that there isn't a problem we can't solve in America if we start acting like Americans, and that requires us to have a president who is going to summon us to action again," she said.

Polls favour Obama in North Carolina, though the race has tightened in recent days, after he suffered a miserable April. Indiana was too close to call.

The rivals are in the last stretch of a 16-month battle for the right to take on John McCain in November's presidential election.

Despite the fierce battle between them, which looks set to continue through the final run of nominating contests into June, both Clinton and Obama vowed to heal party divisions whichever one becomes the nominee.

Polls meanwhile showed softening support for Obama.

A Howey-Gauge poll in Indiana had him barely ahead, 47 percent to 45. Clinton had trailed by 15 points in the same poll in February.

A Rasmussen poll in North Carolina on Friday had Obama leading by nine points, but with Clinton closing, while a Zogby tracking poll published the same day had him up 16 points in the state.