Barack Obama
powered past Hillary Rodham Clinton in the race for the
Democratic presidential nomination, taking the lead in
delegates for the first time with three commanding
victories in and around the U.S. capital.
Clinton,
considered the overwhelming Democratic favorite just a few
weeks ago, has now lost eight straight contests with
her defeats Tuesday in Virginia, Maryland, and
Washington, D.C. She was shaking up her staff and
turning her attention to must-win races next month in Texas
and Ohio.
Obama is counting
on wins in Wisconsin and his birthplace, Hawaii, next
week.
On the Republican
side, John McCain took another step toward locking up
his party's nomination by winning all three contests,
despite lukewarm support from the party's conservative
base. The victories helped the Arizona senator save
face after embarrassing losses to rival Mike Huckabee
over the weekend.
With his string
of wins, Obama has been increasingly targeting McCain,
looking ahead to the November election. In a speech to
17,000 people at the University of Wisconsin, he
linked McCain to what he described as the failed
policies of President George W. Bush.
''George Bush
won't be on the ballot this November, but the Bush-Cheney
war and the Bush-Cheney tax cuts for the wealthy will be on
the ballot,'' he said.
Obama policy
adviser Susan Rice said he will emphasize the economy in
upcoming voting states, including the March 4 primaries in
Texas and Ohio, beginning with an economic speech
Wednesday at a General Motors plant in Wisconsin.
''He will focus
on the message that matters most to the people in those
states, which is of course the economy,'' Rice said in an
interview Wednesday with CNN.
The Associated
Press count of delegates showed Obama with 1,223,
including separately chosen party and elected officials
known as superdelegates. Clinton had 1,198, falling
behind for the first time since the campaign began.
Neither was close to the 2,025 needed to win the
nomination at the party's national convention this summer in
Denver.
The Illinois
senator's victories Tuesday were by large margins. He was
gaining about 75% of the vote in Washington, D.C., and
nearly two thirds in Virginia. In Maryland, he was
winning close to 60%.
Obama won at
least 65 delegates in Tuesday's primaries, with 70 still to
be awarded. Clinton won at least 33.
Clinton is
counting on strong support from Hispanic voters to propel
her to victory in Texas as they did in California on
Super Tuesday a week ago. In El Paso, Texas, she
repeated her campaign theme that she has the
experience, as a senator and former first lady, to lead the
United States.
''I'm tested, I'm
ready, let's make it happen,'' she yelled to a
boisterous crowd of about 12,000 on Tuesday night.
Clinton did not
mention Tuesday's results, but there were lingering signs
of the disquiet in her campaign. Her deputy campaign manager
resigned Tuesday, the latest departure in a staff
shake-up.
In an e-mail
message to staffers, Mike Henry said he was stepping down to
allow campaign manager Maggie Williams to build her own
team. Williams replaced Patti Solis Doyle over the
weekend.
Clinton is
seeking to become the first female U.S. president, while
Obama is trying to become the first black president.
Analysts have focused on whether the candidates can
draw voters across racial and gender lines.
For Obama,
Tuesday's results were encouraging.
Interviews with
voters leaving the polls Tuesday showed Obama narrowly
defeated Clinton among white voters in Virginia, 52% to 47%,
the first time he has done that in a Southern state
and only the fourth time he has done so in a
competitive primary this year. Clinton won the white vote by
10 percentage points in Maryland.
Obama won 90% of
the black vote in Virginia and almost as much in
Maryland.
Clinton won a
majority of white women in both states, though by less than
she is accustomed to. Obama won among white men in Virginia,
and they split that vote in Maryland.
McCain's victory
in Virginia was a relatively close one, by nine
percentage points, the result of an outpouring of religious
conservatives who backed Huckabee. McCain received
about half the vote in Virginia, and about 55% in
Maryland.
McCain, a
four-term senator, aimed much of his rhetoric at Obama and
his message of hope and optimism. The 46-year-old
Obama has been criticized for his lack of experience;
he is serving his first term as a U.S. senator
from Illinois.
McCain cautioned,
''To encourage a country with only rhetoric rather than
sound and proven ideas that trust in the strength and
courage of free people is not a promise of hope. It's
a platitude.''
The AP count
showed McCain with 821 delegates. Former Massachusetts
governor Mitt Romney, who dropped out of the race last week,
had 288. Huckabee had 241 and Texas congressman Ron
Paul had 14.
It takes 1,191
delegates to clinch the Republican nomination at the
party's convention in St. Paul, Minn., and McCain appears to
be on track to reach the target by late April. (AP)
