Going by last night’s numbers in Utah, Barack Obama’s showing here was impressive on many levels.

Overall, he received 70,373 (56.61%) votes, better than 22,500 more than Hillary Clinton, who garnered 39.19 percent of the Democratic votes across the state. Certainly, these numbers pale in comparison to the Republican primary where Mitt Romney did extraordinarily well to no surprise. He received more than 255,000 votes.

However, the true contest between Obama and Clinton showed up well as at least four times as many Democratic voters cast primary ballots as in any of the last four presidential primaries. The primary turnout across the state matched the total for last November’s election when voters decided the controversial school voucher referendum. In Salt Lake County, turnout topped 34.4 percent — very healthy for an early primary.

Going by counties, Obama bested Clinton in all but one of the state’s most populous counties (Tooele). Obama won in 22 of the 29 counties. And, in the seven where Clinton did better, it was by slim margins (one vote, for example, in Millard). Obama’s margins throughout the 22 counties where he won were similar to the overall state outcome. For example, in Salt Lake County, Obama received 40,919 votes (56.5 percent) to Clinton’s 28,652 (39.6 percent). On the Republican side, Romney received 83,664 (88.4 percent) while John McCain received 5,787 (6.1 percent).

While the Republicans have winner take all in terms of delegates, the Democrats apportion them according to the outcomes in the state’s three Congressional districts. Based on the results, Obama received 14 delegates and Clinton took nine.

Political analysts have noticed Obama’s intention to carry out a 50-state strategy. The Illinois senator won his home state, as well as Georgia, Alabama, Delaware, Minnesota, Connecticut, Kansas, North Dakota, Colorado, Alaska, Missouri, Utah and Idaho. Clinton took eight states in Super Tuesday, including New York and California.

Six primaries follow in the next week: Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Virginia, Washington and the District of Columbia.