Obama, McCain rack up wins

By Mary Daly

Published Feb. 15, 2008

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., extended his winning streak to the Virginia, Maryland and District of Columbia primaries Tuesday. And while Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., still doesn’t have the support of all the conservatives, he too swept the vote.

Coming off a weekend of victories, Obama didn’t lose a step in Tuesday’s primaries. His wins in the Potomac brought him to eight consecutive victories against his opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and pulled him ahead in the total delegate count.

In Virginia, Obama won 64 percent of the vote to Clinton’s 35 percent. He received 54 of the state’s delegates. Clinton was awarded 29.

Obama attracted 75 percent of the vote in the District of Columbia and 60 percent of the vote in Maryland.

“Though we won in Washington, D.C., this movement won’t stop until there is change in Washington, D.C.,” Obama said at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “And tonight we’re on our way.”

Obama defeated Clinton in almost every demographic category, according to CNN exit polls. He won support from males, females and Latinos, and he received support from 90 percent of black voters.

Obama won among voters ages 65 and over and among those with an income less than $50,000 per year, two groups that preciously supported Clinton.

It is unclear whether Obama’s success with these demographics away from Clinton will become a trend.

“If it does, I think he definitely has a shot at cleaning up in Texas and Ohio,” College Democrats of Missouri president Nate Kennedy said.

While Obama was projected the winner of all three primaries, Clinton addressed a large crowd at the University of Texas at El Paso. She did not acknowledge Obama’s victories, but rather promoted her own campaign.

According to a statement Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson released Tuesday night, Obama’s momentum in the primaries won’t hurt Clinton.

“Voters make independent judgments about who they think is the best person,” Wolfson said. “Momentum is a media narrative, not something voters consider.”

On the GOP side, McCain is just 364 delegates short of the required 1,191 to clinch his party’s nomination.

In the winner-take-all Republican primaries, McCain won 55 percent of the vote in Maryland to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s 29 percent, gaining the state’s 28 delegates. He also won in the District of Columbia and Virginia, gaining 16 and 60 delegates respectively.

“We’re approaching the end of the first half of the election on quite an upswing,” McCain said to supporters on Tuesday night.

Despite McCain’s sweep, Huckabee is not leaving the field until the end of the game.

“The nomination is not secured until somebody has 1,191 delegates,” Huckabee said Tuesday after the results came in. “That has not yet happened. We’re still continuing to work and to give voters in these states a choice.”

Huckabee said the states that have not yet held their elections have as much right to a choice as the states that held their primaries on Super Tuesday or prior.

Both parties compete again next Tuesday in the Wisconsin and Washington primaries. Hawaii also holds its Democratic caucus then.