Figured was time for a new Guam thread...- Todd

Looks like a recount, at least of those spoiled ballots in Dededo, will take place automatically, perhaps as soon as next week per The Pacific News Center:

The Democrat Party Nominating Committee said officials will look over the large amount of "spoiled ballots" in the coming days.

At issue is the small margin of victory of Senator Barack Obama. He beat his rival, Senator Hillary Clinton by 7 votes, but well over 500 ballots were deemed invalid during the tabulation process.

Herbie Perez, chairman of the nominating committee, said she will not certify the results because the Committee needs to ensure that all the uncounted ballots were properly identified as "spoiled."

She said officials from the Party and representatives from both candidates will meet probably Monday or Tuesday to address that issue.

Not 7%, but 7 votes. CNN has still called it for Obama though. Do I smell a recount?

Check out the unofficial vote count:

Barack Obama 50.1% (2264 votes)
Hillary Clinton 49.9% (2257 votes)

This is a remarkable upending of expectations for Hillary Clinton, even if it is just Guam.

Update [2008-5-3 20:6:26 by Todd Beeton]:Edited above to note that these vote counts are unofficial per KUAM News:

In the strangest of circumstances that could only bring about the closest of races, Hillary Rodham Clinton finished with 49.9% of the vote of the Guam Democratic Caucus, just 7 votes shy of Barack Obama's total of 50.1%. While Obama led for the vast majority of the night's tallying, Clinton needed a strong finish in the municipality of Dededo, Guam's most populous village. And she did - gaining 61% of the 822 votes counted by the Democratic Party of Guam.

Note: these are unofficial, uncertified results as tabulated by the Democratic Party of Guam.

Also, this is interesting:

The DPG noted a high number of spoiled ballots in Dededo.

Today the the island of Guam, a US territory that will have a total of 9 delegate votes at the convention, held their Democratic caucuses.

More than 3,000 votes were expected in heavy turnout at caucuses in the U.S. territory, where neither candidate campaigned.

Four pledged delegate votes were at stake on the island 8,000 miles from Washington. Guam also has five superdelegates and some of those are being determined in the caucus voting as well.

With just over half the votes counted, Barack Obama holds an 8 point lead over Hillary Clinton.

Guam's support for Barack Obama continues to mount, as the senator from Illinois has extended his lead over his New York counterpart, Hillary Clinton, in the 2008 Guam Democrat Caucus. With 12 out of 21 local voting precincts now having been accounted for, Obama has 899 of the 1,668 total votes (54%). Volunteers from the Democrat Party of Guam have counted 769 votes (46%) for Clinton.

But as Ben Smith notes, Clinton could still catch up:

But the Clinton faithful still have hope, as the critical precinct of Dededo - the island's most populous village - remains uncounted.

The Obama campaign's projected pledged delegate spreadsheet had Obama winning by 11% but splitting the pledged delegates 2-2.

Guampdn.com has video and photos up of the caucuses.

Update [2008-5-3 15:50:56 by Todd Beeton]:Demconwatch has the updated numbers:

16 districts out of 19 (84%), Obama 1,420 53%, Clinton 1,246 47%

So far each candidate has won one pledged delegate.

Update [2008-5-3 16:35:57 by Todd Beeton]:With 95% reporting, the margin remains 53%-47%. According to Demconwatch, Green Papers is projecting a 2-2 pledged delegate split (which actually means 4 delegates for each candidate each with half a vote at the convention.)

Update [2008-5-3 17:25:24 by Todd Beeton]:The reason Guam hasn't been called is that the last village to report is Guam's most populous:

It's all come down to one village. Presidential candidate hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton decidedly took Agat, and Barack Obama just barely won Yona for the Guam Democrat Caucus, bringing Obama's lead to just 5.5%. And the only remaining village left to be counted is Dededo, Guam's second-largest municipality and its most populated.

That it's still too close to call is actually pretty remarkable. As of now, Clinton has defied the Obama campaign's own expectations by cutting Obama's projected margin of victory in half. We'll see how close it actually gets after Dededo reports. CNN is already talking about how this is closer than it was supposed to be, which is exactly the narrative Clinton would like to see going into Tuesday.

Update [2008-5-3 17:32:6 by Todd Beeton]:From Tremayne at Open Left, Obama is winning the superdelegate sweepstakes in Guam today.

While the overall race is still close, the race for chairman and vice chairman of the U.S. territory's Democratic party is not. Those winning these positions automatically become 2 of the superdelegates for Guam. The posts will be won by the pro-Obama slate where one candidate has endorsed him and the other says he'll support the Guam popular vote winner.

Update [2008-5-3 18:0:20 by Todd Beeton]:As of now the most up to date results are as follows (still waiting for the village of Dededo to report):

Barack Obama 52.7% (1951 votes)
Hillary Clinton 47.3% (1748 votes)