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BOISE, Idaho — More voters than expected turned out for Tuesday’s primary election, the Idaho secretary of state’s office says.

The office estimated Wednesday that about 178,000 voters, or about 25 percent of the state’s 713,000 registered voters, cast ballots. That’s better than the 15 percent originally estimated shortly after polls closed Tuesday, which would have been the lowest turnout in an Idaho primary since the 1970s.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain won the state’s primary, earning 70 percent of the vote. Texas Rep. Ron Paul captured about 24 percent of the vote and 6 percent remained uncommitted.

State officials said their initial projection was skewed because of delayed precinct reporting in Ada County, Idaho’s most populous.

“I think it was pretty much a snooze,” said Pat Herman, a network administrator and part of the office’s elections staff. “It was pretty much a repeat of the last primary.”

About 25 percent of voters participated in the 2006 primary, which was the lowest voter turnout in at least 30 years.

Although Kootenai County in northern Idaho reported more than 5,100 absentee ballot requests, about twice as many as during the last two primaries, the county also had some of the lowest voter participation in the state, an estimated 11 percent.

Most counties reported voter turnout between 23 percent and 27 percent, according to the secretary of state’s office, while the highest turnout was Butte County at about 60 percent.

“I whipped the pants off them,” said Butte County Clerk Trilby McAffee, who reported more than 1,000 of her county’s 1,700 registered voters cast ballots during the primary.

Butte County had a 45 percent voter turnout in the 2006 primary.

McAffee said Tuesday’s election featured a county sheriff’s race that pitted an incumbent against a candidate who has previously run for the office. Voters re-elected Sheriff Wes Collins, who has held the position since 2003 and beat challenger Joel Andersen by more than 200 votes.

“Everybody knew everybody,” McAffee said. “It’s a small county.”

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Idaho voters turned out in record numbers Tuesday night to deliver a victory for Barack Obama in the Democratic caucuses.

Obama, a first-term U.S. senator from Illinois, trounced Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, winning in 34 of the 35 counties that reported results by the time the race was called by The Associated Press.

Idaho, with 18 delegates at stake in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, was a state that Obama’s campaign targeted last fall, then sought to lock down with his standing-room-only campaign rally last weekend in Boise.

Under party rules, delegates will be awarded proportionally based on total vote in each of the state’s two congressional districts.

Obama’s victory came as the party set new marks for caucus turnout. Some would-be voters weren’t even able to squeeze into the 6,800-seat Qwest Arena in downtown Boise, site of the Ada County caucus.

“To be a Democrat in Idaho has always been the right thing to do, but tonight it’s the cool thing to do,” state party Chairman Keith Roark told voters.

Four years ago, just 2,000 people attended the Democratic caucus in Ada County, Idaho’s most populous. Across the state, just 4,920 participated in 2004.

Party officials said late Tuesday they had not yet tabulated total turnout. But John Foster, the party’s executive director, said unofficial counts showed turnout had doubled 2004 totals even before the party included the state’s biggest counties, including Ada, Bannock and Canyon.

Democratic party leaders anticipated a night of heavy turnout, thanks to enthusiasm for candidates Obama and Clinton and moving the caucus from March to be a part of Super Tuesday.

Still, they were caught off guard by the number of people who wanted to participate in Ada County. Earlier in the day, organizers printed 9,000 ballots to hand out to overflow crowds, then printed more just to make certain they didn’t run out. Altogether, 8,290 ballots were counted, according to the Ada County Democratic Party’s final count.

For some of the caucus-goers, the ballots were their only chance to participate. Once Qwest Arena reached capacity, party officials would not let anyone else inside, instead simply collecting ballots from those left outside.

Last Saturday’s Obama rally boosted interest in the caucuses, attracting more than 14,000 people to Boise State University’s basketball arena.

Nick Bayus of Boise said the enthusiasm by Democrats outweighed any irritation at being turned away from the arena.

“I’m just thrilled there are so many people here, so many Democrats,” Bayus said.

Organizers had expected record caucus turnout across the state as Democrats in mostly Republican Idaho sought to make their voices heard in the race to replace President George Bush. Still, all the congressional seats and statewide elected positions in Idaho remain in GOP hands.

“I want to get as far away from Bush as you can get,” said David Walgren, a Boise Democrat who supports Obama. “Obama is as far away from Bush as you can get.”

Unlike other states that caucus by precinct, Idaho Democrats had just a single caucus site per county.

In addition to the Democratic delegates selected Tuesday, Idaho also has five “superdelegates” — consisting of elected or party officials who aren’t bound to endorse a candidate based on caucus results. Instead, the superdelegates can vote their will at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in late August.

Idaho Republicans will vote in their primary May 27.

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REPUBLICANS

John McCain: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma

Mitt Romney: Alaska, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Utah

Mike Huckabee: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, West Virginia

DEMOCRATS

Hillary Clinton: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee

Barack Obama: Alaska, Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Utah

STATE

Alabama: Barack Obama, Mike Huckabee

Alaska: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney

Arizona: Hillary Clinton, John McCain

Arkansas: Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee

California: Hillary Clinton, John McCain

Colorado: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney

Connecticut: Barack Obama, John McCain

Delaware: Barack Obama, John McCain

Georgia: Barack Obama, Mike Huckabee

Idaho (D): Barack Obama

Illinois: Barack Obama, John McCain

Kansas (D): Barack Obama

Massachusetts: Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney

Minnesota: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney

Missouri: Barack Obama, John McCain

Montana (R): Mitt Romney

New Jersey: Hillary Clinton, John McCain

New Mexico: TBD

New York: Hillary Clinton, John McCain

North Dakota: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney

Oklahoma: Hillary Clinton, John McCain

Tennessee: Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee

Utah: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney

West Virginia (R): Mike Huckabee

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BOISE, Idaho — State Democratic Party officials can barely contain their glee over what they predict will be record turnout at Tuesday’s statewide Democratic caucuses.

The big question is whether there will be enough room for everybody.

“We frankly don’t know what to expect except that it is clear that we will have more people participating in caucuses this year than we have ever had in the state of Idaho,” said state Democratic Party Chairman Keith Roark. “It truly is a phenomenon that we’re witnessing right now. People have never been as excited to participate in the Democratic caucuses in 30 years as they have been right now.”

Caucuses were scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday in all but one of Idaho’s 44 counties, party leaders said. The only county not taking part is Camas, located between Boise and Sun Valley.

For weeks, Democratic officials have been anticipating a strong turnout. Roark and other party officials attribute the interest to a number of factors, including a competitive nominating contest between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton. Obama’s Saturday visit to Boise, where he hosted a rally before more than 14,000 people, added to the enthusiasm, Roark said.

Another factor is the Democratic central committee’s decision to move caucuses up from the end of March to Super Tuesday, when 24 states including Idaho hold some form of presidential preference voting contest, mainly primaries or caucuses.

Idaho Republicans will have their say in the GOP presidential contest at that party’s May 27 primary.

The Gem State has 18 Democratic delegates hinging on the outcome of the caucuses. Under party rules, delegates will be awarded proportionally based on total vote in each of the state’s two congressional districts. Idaho also has five “superdelegates” — consisting of elected or party officials who aren’t bound to endorse a candidate based on caucus results. Instead, the superdelegates can vote their will at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in late August.

At least two of the party’s superdelegates — Boise lawyers Gail Bray and Grant Burgoyne — have already announced their intention to endorse Obama.

Meanwhile, at offices across the state, campaign officials were making last-minute pitches to boost turnout at the caucuses.

Obama spokeswoman Chani Wiggins said the campaign has been visiting high school civics classes, holding “mock caucuses” to explain the process and relying on hundreds of volunteers to reach out to voters.

“This has been a grassroots effort from the start, when two supporters opened an office in Boise last September,” said Wiggins in an e-mail response to The Associated Press. “We’ve grown to hundreds of volunteers working out of five offices, and out of their homes, around the state.”

Voters in Ada County will caucus inside the Qwest Arena in downtown Boise, the largest site for a caucus in the state. Party officials said a realistic estimate for turnout is 4,000 to 7,000 people, nearing capacity for a building that can hold 7,500 people.

Party leaders said turnout at Obama’s rally initially caused some concerns about having enough space Tuesday night.

“There were 14,000 people that came to see Barack Obama, and I think, initially, we were just blown away,” said party spokesman Chuck Oxley. “We were thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, what if we get 8,000 people that come to Ada County?’ We’re calming down a little bit after being initially scared to death.”

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One Boise political observer is watching the on-the-ground effort by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to determine who might come out on top after Tuesday’s Idaho caucuses.

“Normally what you see in a caucus situation is a lot of organization on the ground and, while the Clinton forces have done that, I think the Obama forces have really done that very well in Idaho and I think that’s one of the reasons why Obama came here,” Boise State University political science professor Gary Moncrief said, according to KTRV FOX 12.

Obama packed a Boise stadium over the weekend and Clinton and Obama both spent

This year also breaks the rules for spending in state, KTRV reports. Small numbers of Democrats, and what has usually been an April caucus date, normally mean no locally aimed ads or personal appearances from Democratic candidates.

A Super Tuesday caucus could mean a difference.

“Obviously that could change. It looks like a very tight race where every electoral college vote matters then it’s possible the candidates or one of their surrogates, like a vice presidential candidate or a spouse or something like that would show up,” said Moncrief.

In and around Boise, Ada County will open the doors of Qwest Arena at 5 p.m. while Canyon County will meet at the Nampa Civic Center at 6 p.m. All sites will close their doors at 7 p.m. to begin caucusing. Site organizers say to plan on the voting to take two to three hours.

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