by Mark Silva
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – With their eyes on the White House, Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton waged a three-front contest today for the Democratic Party’s nomination along the banks of the Potomac River.
On the Republican side of the primary voting in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., Sen. John McCain was attempting to reinforce a sizeable advantage in his bid for the GOP’s presidential nomination, as former Gov. Mike Huckabee insisted that he will challenge McCain until the end.
Join us here tonight for results, reactions and your comments.
It was the Democratic voting which held the greatest potential drama for a virtually tied contest: With Obama hoping to carry a weekend winning-spree through all three elections, a frustrated Clinton already was already turning her attention toward bigger-state contests in early March. The senator from New York moved on to campaign in Texas before polls had even closed here.
Both Clinton and Obama remain far from collecting the 2,025 convention delegates needed for the Democratic presidential nomination. But the two entered Tuesday’s contests nearly tied – with Clinton claiming 1,147 delegates and Obama 1,142.
Obama, long an underdog in this contest, hoped to erase Clinton’s edge and take the lead in the party’s contest today, with 168 pledged delegates at stake in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
McCain has cornered far more delegates for his party’s nomination than either of his remaining Republican rivals -- 719 for McCain, with 1,191 needed for nomination. Huckabee had 241 delegates heading into Tuesday’s voting, and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas 14. With 116 at stake on Tuesday, McCain hoped to inch closer to his anticipated nomination.
For Obama, tpday's three primaries along the Potomac could deliver powerful new momentum, extending a weekend sweep of victories in the Louisiana primary and caucuses in Maine, Nebraska and Washington.
For Clinton, who had faced opinion polls portraying a strong advantage for Obama in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia heading into today's voting, the next challenge lies in big states down the road. Clinton already is airing radio ads in Wisconsin, which will hold its open primary in a week on Feb. 19, and she was touting a new endorsement by retired senator and astronaut John Glenn of Ohio in a bid to regain her campaign’s steam in the delegate-rich primaries of Ohio and Texas on March 4.
The Clinton campaign is deploying her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to campaign in Wisconsin on Valentine’s Day – with the 42nd president planning stops Thursday in Milwaukee, Madison and La Crosse.
Clinton, who loaned her own campaign $5 million as money was running short, also has reported reenergized fundraising since the Super Tuesday voting on Feb. 5, when she claimed major-state victories in New York, California and elsewhere. Obama carried more states – from Colorado to Connecticut and from Minnesota to Georgia – and was hoping to ride a wave of wins through Tuesday.
Open-voting Virginia, the biggest prize Tuesday, offered favorable territory for both Obama and McCain, who have benefited from the ability of swing-voting members of both parties and independent voters to support them in open primary contests. This also is an important, shifting state which has turned toward Democratic in recent state elections and could provide the party with a new, key Southern state in November’s election.
“We bring in voters who haven’t given Democrats a chance’’ in the past, said Obama pollster Cornell Belcher, citing support from independents.
Mark Penn, Clinton’s chief strategist, countered that Clinton holds appeal for women voters and Hispanics. "Hillary Clinton has a coalition of voters well-suited to winning the general election," he said.
The Maryland and D.C. contests were closed to party members.
Huckabee hoped to stake a claim in Virginia, adding to a string of Southern state primary victories, including his home state of Arkansas.
He has insisted that he will not “walk off the field’’ until it is certain that McCain has claimed the nomination. The former governor of Arkansas and ordained Baptist minister maintains that McCain will have a difficult time rallying “the foot soldiers’’ of the Republican Party – the social conservatives whom Huckabee has successfully courted in many places.
Huckabee, at a breakfast with reporters in Washington on Tuesday, also offered an assessment across party lines:
People have “underestimated Barack Obama and his capacity to inspire,’’ Huckabee said Tuesday. “He has energized an enormous [part] of the electorate.’’
Huckabee, suggesting that Obama could make for a tougher Democratic contender in November, said, “Voters, ultimately, when they are thinking of a leader, are not thinking necessarily of someone who can fix the carburetor, but someone who can drive the car… That’s where I think Obama has had the distinct advantage.’’
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Comments
Sure, the Potomac region faces a whole range of problems. But not to worry! Senator Obama has promised that if he's elected President, he'll chant our way out of it. Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!
Or perhaps he'll use his new chant, inspired by the article in Monday's WSJ: "On a conference call to prepare for a recent debate, Barack Obama brainstormed with his top advisers on the fine points of his positions. Michelle Obama had dialed in to listen, but finally couldn't stay silent any longer.'Barack,' she interjected,'Feel -- don't think!'"
Kind of sums up Senator Obama's message to Democratic voters. All together now, children: Feel! Don't think! Feel! Don't think!
Posted by: Tim1979 | February 12, 2008 6:14 PM
"OBAMA / CLINTON SPEAKS"
YES WE WILL BE THE FIRST BLACK OR WOMAN PRESIDENT WITH THE POWER TO EAVESDROP, DATAMINE AND WIRETAP YOU THANKS TO THE REPUBLICAN GOP AND DEMOCRACTIC "BLUE DOGS"
YES A "BLACK MAN" A "BLACK PRESIDENT" IF HE SO WINS WILL HAVE THE ABILITY TO DATAMINE YOU WHEN ENTERING AND LEAVING THE UNITED STATES.
YES, THE FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO OPEN YOUR EMAIL AND SIFT THROUGH YOUR WALLET WITHOUT YOU HAVING ANY JUDICIAL OVERSIGHT EITHER CIVIL OR FEDERAL.
YES, A THE FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT WILL BE ABLE TO DATAMINE MEN WHO HAVE THE "PROPENSITY TO LIE" AS DID THEIR FOREFATHERS.
YES, A BLACK MAN THAT CAN ASK HIS CONGRESS TO CHANGE THIS LAW, TO SUIT THIS NEED, AND THAT LAW TO SUIT THE ABILITY TO SUPERCEEDE THIS CONSTITUTIONAL LAW.
OH YES, WE CAN SEE IT COMING NOW. FISA, PROTECT AMERICA ACT, PATRIOT ACT, "THE COMMISSION" AND ALL THE LOST EMAILS AND PRESIDENTIAL ARCHIVES.
DO YOU HONESTLY THINK AMERICA IS GOING TO GIVE A BLACK MAN AND OR A WOMAN THE POWERS THAT GEORGE BUSH AND DICK CHENEY HAVE ASCERTAINED THUS FAR?
HMMMMMM ANYBODY BELIEVE SCOTT RITTER ON WMD'S.
IMPEACH OR CENSOR SO THAT ALL OF THE ABOVE DOESN'T HAPPEN BECAUSE A PAYBACK COULD BE SERIOUS.
Posted by: Roger Morris | February 12, 2008 6:45 PM
As far as I can determine, UpChuckAbee is still behind,,,,,,Willard Romney! And Mitt ain't in the chase anymore.
In what alternate universe is Mikey operating?
Posted by: OldCreaky | February 12, 2008 6:55 PM
To Tim1979:
I know you feel this is too simplistic, but I've got to say I'll be voting for Obama for a couple of reasons directly related to what you're saying as far as Chants & Slogans...
This is the first time since the 60's that I feel excited about the elections, and Barack Obama is the one that is making this exciting for me.
Wanting a "Change" is more than a slogan, it's a fervent wish by now.
And as far as Clinton claiming an edge in "Experience", that's actually turning me off, even though I like her personally.
"Experienced" politicians have sunk this country lower in every way I can think of...Budget, misplaced priorities, a war draining billions when we're bleeding money overseas, foreign policies that make us hated by our allies much less our traditional foes, Bush pals looting contracts... so don't tell me about experience anymore,...I'm up to here with it.
He has my vote just for that promise of change...he can't do worse than anyone else and please dear God, I hope he fulfills 1/2 the things he wants to do, and he'll have my vote next time too!
Posted by: JJR60616 | February 12, 2008 7:07 PM
Way to sum it up Tim. Do you work for Foxnews by any chance? Way to jump on the bandwagon of bashing Obama for having no definitive ideas. Listen to the rest of his speeches besides the chanting, go on his website, research his past..he's had plenty of ideas. I'm sure it was "feeling" rather than "thinking" which earned him the chair as President of the Harvard Law Review.
If we're in the game of reducing someone to a chant and a misplaced comment: Huckabee will preach or pray the republicans out of the mess they caused; McCain will continue to fight a war to get us out of the problems the republicans caused; and Hillary will ride on hubbies coat tails to save us.
And, finally, the ultimate one: G.W. Bush: Guess, talk to God, discount all your intelligence staff, lie, anything but think.
Posted by: Chris | February 12, 2008 7:16 PM
For those, including Tim, who feel that Obama is short on substance, you should really do your research. The man has laid out his plans in detail. I commend his position papers to you, which lay out where he stands on issues of concern to the electorate. Neither a campaign stump speech nor what passes these days for debates lend themselves to exhaustive explorations of policy minutiae.
Finally, one's ability to lead requires yes a substantive command of policy, which both Senators Obama and Clinton certainly have, but also an ability to impart a vision that inspires ordinary folks to believe and follow. On this latter point, Obama simply has been better. You may trivialize it as emotive "sloganeering" to the unthinking masses but, in the view of this critical thinker, Obama's ability to galvanize support around his messages of hope and the need to depart from the divisiveness of the past is a far more telling indicator of his ability to lead needed change than is the nostalgia for the "good ole days" offered up to this point by Senator Clinton.
Posted by: Bruce | February 12, 2008 7:21 PM
I LIVE IN IOWA AND HAD THE CHANCE TO SEE OBAMA 4 TIMES, AND I WENT TO SEE HIM EVERY TIME. MY SON DID QUITE A BIT OF KNOCKING ON DOORS, ETC. FOR HIM THIS SUMMER. (THEY PUT UP SIGNS IN THE HIGH SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS TO VOLUNTEER AND MY SON JOINED IMMEDIATELY.) THIS MIGHT SOUND SILLY, BUT YOU CAN JUST SEE THE SINCERITY IN OBAMA'S EYES. I'M ABSOLUTELY (WONDERFULLY) AMAZED AT THE TURNOUT OF ALL RACES, ECONOMIC GROUPS, ETC., SHOWING THAT AMERICANS SEE BEYOND SOMEONE'S ETHNICITY IN THIS DAY AND AGE AND ACTUALLY DO VOTE FOR WHO THEY FEEL IS THE BEST FOR OUR COUNTRY. I'M 57 YEARS OLD, AND SENATOR OBAMA REMINDS ME, TOO,(AS I'VE HEARD OTHERS SAY) OF JOHN F. KENNEDY. GOD BLESS YOU BARAK!!!
Posted by: U OF CHI MOM | February 12, 2008 9:08 PM
I should have taken the time to proofread my post. I DO know how to spell BARACK'S name... my mistake.
Posted by: U OF CHI MOM | February 12, 2008 9:28 PM
Thank you most sincerely, JJR60616 and U OF CHI MOM, for so vividly illustrating my point.
Posted by: Tim1979 | February 12, 2008 11:30 PM
Governor Huckabee had to battle against all odds. The media onslaught, washington insiders that dont want change, and the 100MM dollar man. But he is still the most electable republican candidate and the math myth that main stream media pumps should not deter us from supporting an electable candidate. For inspiration without chants watch this speech at CPAC
http://www.hucksarmy.com/videos/HuckCPAC2008.html
Posted by: carlene | February 13, 2008 8:14 AM