ST. PAUL – Bernie Sanders turned Minnesota into one of his rare wins in Tuesday's precinct caucuses. He led Hillary Clinton 59 percent to 42 percent late Tuesday. Chairman Ken Martin of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party called it "a very decisive victory here in Minnesota this evening." Martin and most other DFL leaders had backed Clinton, but the chairman said Minnesota is a progressive state and Sanders is a progressive politician. "We at the party could not be more excited," Martin said about overflow caucuses. "We saw people we never have seen in our party before." Martin said it appeared that Sanders would win each of the state's eight congressional districts.

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Sanders supporter and Minneapolis Councilwoman Lisa Bender said he won in farm country, on the Iron Range and in urban areas.

At 10:30 p.m. with 55 percent of the state's 4,109 precincts reporting, Sanders lead Clinton 58 percent to 41 percent,

Sanders and Clinton gave Minnesota a rare show of love this campaign season with more appearances than the state normally sees for presidential candidates, drawing huge crowds in many precinct caucus meetings.

Some Twin Cities precincts reported not only long lines of people waiting to get into caucus meetings, but lengthy lines of cars with Democrats wanting to vote for presidential candidates.

Martin said Tuesday's turnout could break the 2008 record of 2008. The state's largest precincts had not reported by 10:30 p.m.

The Democratic hopefuls this year were in the state several times since its caucuses were part of Super Tuesday, with a dozen states picking presidential nomination delegates.

Sanders stopped in Minnesota three straight days leading up to Super Tuesday and Clinton, a former secretary of state, campaigned hours before the state precinct caucuses began.

While Sanders was doing well in greater Minnesota, a Willmar Democratic caucus put Clinton up 204-151.

About 300 showed up at a Willmar site that hosted 75 four years ago, a story reported statewide.

Martin said cities ranging from St. Cloud to Moorhead also reported large turnouts.

Some Minneapolis and Red Wing precincts ran out of ballots, and more needed to be printed. A Duluth voting site also ran out.

"Most of the major population centers are seeing a very, very huge turnout," Martin said.

Cottage Grove Middle School was overflowing with DFL caucus-goers, and the turnout was even more than the party expected.

“We expected a lot of people, but not this many," Senate District 54 Chairwoman Diana Tunheim said.

Many attendees were wearing Bernie Sanders buttons or T-shirts and carrying signs. A number of Sanders supporters said this was their first time at a caucus.

Minnesota offers 93 delegates to the Democratic National Convention this July, with 2,383 delegates needed to win the nomination.

Twenty-seven delegates will be proportionally based on the statewide caucus vote, with 50 divided based on votes in the state's congressional districts. Sixteen Democratic officials are not bound by caucus vote and may pick their own presidential candidates.

Sanders stopped in Hibbing, Rochester and the Twin Cities in recent days, delivering similar messages at each stop. He focuses on getting corporate money out of politics, deriding Clinton for accepting big-business donations while telling audiences that he does not.

Clinton returned to the Twin Cities on Tuesday, stopping by a cafe and the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis.

Sanders and Clinton both delivered speeches at the Feb. 12 Humphrey-Mondale Dinner, a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party fundraiser. They also were in the Twin Cities last summer for a Democratic National Committee meeting.

Clinton and Sanders were not alone on the caucus ballot. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, who dropped out of the race, and long-shot candidate Rocky De La Fuente were options for convention-goers.

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In her Feb. 12 speech to Minnesota Democrats, Clinton sprinkled her speech with local references. They included mentioning a Minneapolis shooting of a young black man and Iron Range economic problems. She also asked for Super Tuesday support and tossed out many top Minnesota Democratic names.

In his speech before Clinton's, Sanders said little about Minnesota, basically delivering his standard campaign speech.

Clinton had campaigned little in Minnesota, but on Super Tuesday she made a last-minute appeal in an area of Minneapolis with many immigrants that is represented by the state's best-known Sanders supporter, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison.

She said Republicans are “now running their campaigns based on insults."

Clinton said on Feb. 12: "Here is my promise to you, I will work harder than anyone to make changes that actually will improve lives. ... to break all the barriers that hold people back."

Clinton has sent her daughter Chelsea to campaign in the state. Also seeking votes on her behalf have been state Democrats such as Gov. Mark Dayton, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Sen. Al Franken and U.S. Rep. Tim Walz.

Before caucus night, Sanders said he was relying on a good turnout, which would have meant many Democrats who may not usually attend caucuses showing up for him.

"We can win, no question, right here in Minnesota, if we have the turnout," Sanders told a Minneapolis crowd of 2,300 Monday.

In many of his stops, Sanders delivers a standard speech with little talk about local issues important to people in the crowd. He broke with that Friday when he visited Hibbing.

"I do understand what’s going on up here on the Iron Range, about the loss of many, many, many hundreds of good paying jobs because cheap Chinese steel is being dumped in the United States of America," Sanders told the crowd in the local high school.

Sanders, a self-proclaimed socialist, rails against corporations for controlling too much of the country.

“In my heart of hearts, I simply do not believe that establishment politics and establishment economics is going to do what has to be done for working families and the middle class,” Sanders said in Hibbing.

In a Feb. 12 appearance at a forum about black issues, Sanders delivered his standard campaign speech.

He said the corporations have too much power and the only way to change "is through political revolution when people come together to demand something that is not really that radical, to have somebody that represents all of us, not just a few wealthy campaign contributors."

He often says that Clinton is too dependent upon corporate donations.

Forum News Service reporters across Minnesota and the St. Paul Pioneer Press contributed to this story. The Pioneer Press is a Forum News Service media partner.