WASHINGTON, Jan 4: Senator Barack Obama has won the Iowa Democratic caucus defeating long-time frontrunner Senator Hillary Clinton, who had to settle for a third place.

Senator Obama is the first African-American to win a presidential caucus.

Soon after the announcement of the unofficial results, Mrs Clinton called Mr Obama to congratulate him and concede the race. With nearly 1,600 of the state’s 1,781 precincts reporting their results, Senator Obama led with 37 per cent followed by former senator John Edwards with 30 per cent of the vote and Mrs Clinton with 29 per cent.

Equally surprising was the victory of former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee in the Republican caucus. For months, he had been at the bottom of the Republican race, surging to become the front-runner in Iowa only in late December. The US media described both victories in America’s first presidential voting for the 2008 election as stunning.

Mr Huckabee had the support of 34 per cent of voters, compared to 25 per cent for Mitt Romney, 14 per cent for Fred Thompson, 13 per cent for John McCain and 10 per cent for Ron Paul. Rudy Giuliani, who has turned the focus of his campaign to the Feb 5 ‘super Tuesday’ primaries, trailed with four per cent.

Mr Obama, 46 and a first-term senator from Illinois, told a raucous victory rally that his triumph showed that in “big cities and small towns, you came together to say, ‘We are one nation, we are one people and our time for change has come’.”

“A new day is needed in American politics, just like a new day is needed in American government,” said Mr Huckabee while celebrating his win. “It starts here, but it doesn’t end here. It goes all the way through the other states and ends at 1,600, Pennsylvania Avenue.”

With the New Hampshire primary five days ahead, Mrs Clinton and Mr Edwards vowed to fight on in the race for the Democratic nomination.

“We have always planned to run a national campaign,” the former first lady told supporters at a noisy rally attended by her husband and their daughter Chelsea. “I am so ready for the rest of this campaign, and I am so ready to lead.”

In Iowa caucus, voters elect delegates to the county convention, setting off a process that culminates with the presidential conventions where candidates for both Republican and Democratic parties are chosen. The caucus is noteworthy for the amount of media attention it receives during the election year. But candidates winning the Iowa caucus have not always won the presidential race.