Obama Wins VA,Ma and DC

Obama Sweeps Maryland, Virginia and D.C.

By Chris Cillizza
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer

Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) swept today's Democratic Potomac Primary, claiming a trio of victories to extend his consecutive winning streak over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) to eight states and jurisdictions.

Obama won by wide margins in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia -- a highly diverse region that includes large urban and suburban centers and significant swaths of rural territory. This trio of wins, when coupled with his other recent victories, give Obama a jolt of momentum and may well establish him as the front-runner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

"We're on our way," Obama said at a rally in Madison, Wis., tonight. While he expressed his pleasure with his victories, the Illinois junior senator cautioned his supporters that there was much work to be done in his drive to fundamentally change politics in Washington.

"We know it takes more than one night -- or even one election -- to overcome decades of money and the influence, bitter partisanship and petty bickering that's shut you out, let you down and told you to settle," he said.

Even as the results were rolling in, the shakeup in Clinton's senior staff continued as deputy campaign manager Mike Henry announced his resignation. Henry's departure came just two days after campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle stepped down and was replaced by Margaret A. Williams, Clinton's former chief of staff during her husband's first term in the White House.

Clinton, at a campaign appearance in El Paso, made no mention of the results from today's primaries or the changes in her senior staff. "I'm tested, I'm ready, let's make it happen," she said to loud cheers. Texas -- along with Ohio -- is scheduled to vote on March 4 and is increasingly regarded as a must-win for Clinton.

Clinton was long considered the front-runner in the contest, and even after a recent handful of primary and caucus setbacks, she still held a slight lead in the race for delegates to the August Democratic National Convention in Denver. But after Obama's impressive showing today, the delegate fight is a dead heat. According to estimates made by CNN, Obama has 1,195 delegates to Clinton's 1,178. A candidate needs 2,025 delegates to nail down the presidential nomination.

Exit polling in Virginia and Maryland showed that Obama not only won among groups who had favored him in past elections, but also among those who had been pillars of Clinton's support in earlier states. Obama won the support of women by double digits in Maryland and Virginia. Among Latino voters, Obama held a double-digit margin over Clinton in Virginia and carried the group slightly more narrowly in the Free State.

As expected, Obama racked up huge numbers among black voters. In Virginia, where African American voters made up 30 percent of the Democratic primary electorate, Obama's vote share was close to 90 percent. In Maryland, where blacks constitute almost four in 10 voters, Obama won by an eight-to-one margin.

But among white voters -- where Obama has struggled to match Clinton -- the Illinois senator fought his New York colleague to a draw in Virginia. In Maryland, exit polling showed Clinton with a 10-point edge.

Clinton entered the race hailed by many as the inevitable nominee and easily matched Obama in fundraising prowess. But more recently, she has fallen far behind Obama in fundraising, to the point that she had to lend her campaign $5 million, and she has been out-organized by Obama's campaign in the vast majority of caucus states.

Her campaign has struggled to build momentum after the 22 state primary and caucus contests on Feb. 5, as national polls have shown Obama pulling into a virtual tie with the New York senator.

Election officials throughout the region reported potentially record-breaking voter turnout today in the first-ever Potomac Primary, as voters seemed eager to take part in one the most closely contested and historic presidential races ever.

"Something or someone has energized the voters," said Rafael Beltran III, chief of elections at the polling station in the Verizon building in Arlington. "For the first time in years, some candidate or some message is coming out loud and clear."

More than 930,000 people participated in Virginia's Democratic primary, according to early estimates, a massive 130 percent increase over the voter turnout in the 2004 presidential primary vote in the commonwealth.

In the District, officials said the turnout was so high that some polling places ran out of ballots. William R. O'Field Jr., spokesman for the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics, said the city experienced a high voter turnout compared to past presidential primaries, leading to a number of problems at the polls.

In Maryland, officials were projecting a 39 percent turnout, which would be one of the highest in recent years. Bad weather forced state election officials to keep polling places open until 9:30 p.m. -- 90 minutes past the scheduled closing time -- and may have impacted turnout somewhat.

At one time, the Potomac Primary was considered an afterthought by the two Democratic rivals, with so much riding on the Super Tuesday contests. But with the race for the nomination a dead heat, the 168 combined delegates in Maryland, Virginia and the District emerged as an important political prize.

Given the Potomac Primary results, Obama will enter the votes next Tuesday in Wisconsin and Hawaii as a strong favorite. Victories there for Obama would set up the March 4 primaries in Ohio and Texas as must-wins for the Clinton campaign.

Clinton's campaign strategists have long viewed Ohio and Texas as a firewall for the former first lady -- two large, diverse, delegate-rich states that could offset Obama's string of victories in smaller caucus states where Obama's campaign has been more adroit in organizing and turning out supporters.

But recent events have troubled Clinton supporters and donors, with some fearing that Obama's momentum could well carry into Ohio and Texas, undermining Clinton's bid for the nomination.
The excitement surrounding the Democratic contest is a reflection of the historic nature of the choice. Clinton would be the first woman ever to be nominated as a major party's presidential nominee; Obama would be the first African American to lay claim to the same title.