His long-shot run started with 246 votes in New Hampshire, then 1,000 in Missouri.

His platform of tighter regulations on big banks and expanding the use of Medicare is considered to the left of Obama. And most of his success has come in states that voted against the president in 2008 - Louisiana in March with 17,804 votes, then Arkansas in May with 67,661 votes.

His surge also coincided with a slide by Obama across the South in which 20 percent of voters in North Carolina voted "no preference" instead of picking the president.

In the West Virginia primary, federal inmate Keith Judd got 41 percent of the vote. And 41 percent of Kentucky residents voted "uncommitted" instead of voting for the president.

Washington Republicans say the results show the president will have a tougher-than-expect time against GOP candidate Mitt Romney in the general election.

Wolfe says the Democratic National Party appears determined to give Obama an unobstructed path to the convention, which he thinks is the real reason - not paperwork problems - the Arkansas state party is withhold his delegates.