The Associated Press is reporting that Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has a big lead in Washington state’s Democratic caucuses. With about 24% of the results in, Obama was winning 65% of delegates to New York Sen. Hillary Clinton’s 33%. Obama was running strong across the state, winning at caucus sites in a wide variety of communities from Seattle to Yakima and Renton to Chehalis, the AP said.

[Campaign]The results seems to match up with local reports earlier. The Seattle Times’s David Postman blogged earlier that: “Democrats are e-mailing me results from their caucuses. Every one I’ve seen so far shows Obama winning easily. It’s only a small number and only from a few places so far. That includes precincts in Seattle, all points in Bellevue, Mercer Island, and Port Townsend. I’ll be particularly interested in seeing Pierce County results where Clinton is expected to do better.”

The Seatttle Times also reported heavy turnout. Its “Dispatches from the caucuses” feature reported that “One woman told me her precinct went from 4 participants in 2004 to 56 participants today.” The AP said that Washington State Democrats estimated turnout may have been more than twice the 100,000 people who caucused in 2004.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer said state Democrats were calling turnout “record-shattering,” saying that “reports from initial samplings across the state suggesting nearly double the turnout from 2004.”