Maine Democratic Party officials are riding high today after shattering the previous caucus turnout record of 18,000 by drawing what party executive director Arden Manning described as “close to 45,000” to town halls and schools across the state

Just a few weeks ago, political scientists predicted Maine Democrats might be totally ignored in the presidential race because they decided to wait to caucus until after Super Tuesday. But when voters in more than 20 states failed to produce a clear frontrunner, Maine briefly took a turn in the national spotlight.

Visits by both candidates the day before the caucuses energized supporters of both Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton. As of 11:30 last night, it looked like Obama would take 15 delegates while Clinton will get nine.