Republic candidate for the White House Mike Huckabee and Democrat Barack Obama have come out winners in Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses, CNN reported.

With all Democratic precincts reporting, Obama gained 38% of votes, followed by John Edwards with 30%. Hillary Clinton, long considered the front-runner for the Democrat nomination, came in third with the support of 29% of the voters.

"The numbers tell us this was a debate between change and experience, and change won," CNN political analyst Bill Schneider commented.

Iowa delivered fatal blows to the campaigns of Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, both of whom decided to abandon their White House runs.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who finished fourth, said his campaign plans to "take the fight to New Hampshire."

On the Republican side, with 92% of the party precincts reporting, Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, garnered 34% of voters, compared to 25% for Romney. Fred Thompson came third with 13%, followed by McCain (13%) and Ron Paul (10%).

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani trailed with 4%.

The Iowa caucuses were the first primary elections, with New Hampshire second in line on Tuesday next week and Michigan in mid-January.

By February 5, more than half of the US states will have voted in the primaries, including large states like Florida, California and New York.

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