Obama, McCain sweep Potomac primaries
By Michael Kranish and Sasha Issenberg, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON -- Senator Barack Obama decisively swept the Democratic presidential primaries today in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia to seize the momentum over Senator Hillary Clinton, who has lost eight straight primaries and caucuses since Super Tuesday.
But the two still remained relatively close in delegates and both were already looking to upcoming contests, especially in the crucial, delegate-rich states Ohio and Texas next month.
Senator John McCain solidified his front-runner status in the Republican race, winning all three races as well. The result is likely to put added pressure on former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who has acknowledged he would need a "miracle" to win the nomination, to withdraw from the race.
Even as Obama was sweeping the three "Potomac primary" states, Clinton was touting her own success in what has become a parallel contest in this city on the Potomac River -- the battle for superdelegates. Clinton was leading among the Democratic Party officials, members of Congress, and other elected officials who comprise the 796 superdelegates, who could determine the nomination if the two candidates remain close among delegates selected by voters.
Before last night's contests, Clinton was slightly leading Obama in the overall delegate count, 1,147 to 1,124, with neither close to 2,025 needed for the nomination, according to a tally by the Associated Press. Obama was expected to take the delegate lead after the results were finalized tonight.
Even before the votes were tallied, both Democratic candidates were looking ahead to next week's contests in Hawaii, where Obama once lived and is expected to do well, and Wisconsin, where a new poll yesterday showed Obama with a 50 percent to 39 percent lead. That will be followed by potentially decisive contests on March 4 that include Rhode Island, Vermont, Ohio, and Texas.
"We are going to sweep across Texas in the next three weeks," Clinton told a rally tonight in El Paso, Tex. "I'm tested, I'm ready, let's make it happen!"
The Lone Star state has a 35.7 percent Hispanic population, nearly identical to the 35.9 percent in California, where Clinton won on Super Tuesday by capturing the Hispanic vote by a roughly two-to-one margin.
She also hopes to do well in Ohio, appealing to working-class voters and touting the endorsement that she picked up yesterday from former US Senator John Glenn. A SurveyUSA poll released yesterday showed Clinton with a 56 percent to 39 percent lead in the state, where she and Obama have agreed to debate on Feb. 26.
"Ohio is really going to count in determining who our Democratic nominee is going to be," Clinton told WCPO of Ohio during a round of television interviews today.
Obama, meanwhile, appeared tonight in Madison, Wis., where thousands of college students, who have helped fuel his campaign across the country, greeted him.
"Today, the change we seek swept through Chesapeake and over the Potomac," Obama said. "We won the state of Maryland. We won the Commonwealth of Virginia. And, though we won in Washington D.C.. this movement won't stop until there is change in Washington, D.C. and tonight we are on our way."
"The cynics can no longer say our hope is false," he added.
Obama, like McCain, spent much of his speech talking about issues in the general election to come. Obama called McCain an "American hero" but said his priorities are "bound to the failed policies of the past."
McCain, in remarks prepared for delivery last night to supporters in Virginia, took what might be perceived as a veiled swipe at Obama's message of inspiration and hope, saying, "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 is a platitude."
Exit polls in the closely watched state of Virginia showed that Obama fared strongly among many demographic groups, including ones that had been strengths for Clinton. He won nearly two-to-one among men and won among women by 58 percent to 42 percent. He won by a nine-to-one margin among African-Americans and across all income categories. Clinton narrowly won the white vote by 51 percent to 48 percent.
GO O BAM A !!!
Fellow Americans..
Today our vision of hopes is presented to us in a variety of form. Our candidates proclaim themselves as an agent of change! or a hero from the past or a history in the making.
These visions is not about 'ideas', endorsements and being courageous.
America need true Leader that can Lead and Govern the land. It is not about popularity among the youth or the new blood....
Do not test the water...Leadership is not about testing it. It is about having a very clear understanding of how the Mechanic of Leadership is all about!
Someone who knows the system of governance..and not just having a theory about it...someone who have been using the system and is capable of fixing troubles in it...
Fellow American...Think seriously because the future of America is at stake in this race...Let us not be persuaded by repetitious words that has no bearing and not reliable...we do not want to see a President in the WhiteHouse who will have so much advisers who will end up running the country.
..
We need someone who will RUN the country!
For those of us outside the United States we look on, if not with fear and loathing then with trepidation, for the American economy and its policies effect us crucially in the outside world. That the direction of such a mammoth economy is influenced so much by a single wealthy man is an artifact of an American style of democracy and this makes us outsiders doubly troubled. John McCain may be an American Hero, but last time his right-wing party supported an American idiot, and George wasn't the first, nor the most idiotic. John McCain in his foreign policy wants to put more boots on the ground and hit 'em harder: we fear that's a prescription for a third wold war.
Hilary's policies and voting record has flip flopped from one side to the other, certainly the former Clinton administration made mistakes in not being decisive and I'm talking about in their foreign policies, in Iran and the Arab world, rather than between the sheets.
The washout is that Obama is the only clean-skin. His rhetoric, and what we understand of his policies, sound different to those of Bush and cronies. He sounds like he has integrity, he sounds like he is rational and he sounds like he is not fanatically religious: on the world stage these are blessings, they are not a given. Outside America colour is of no consequence: we are of different hues. So to us on the outside Obama is The Man. With fervent hope we pray he'll be America's man too.
FIRED UP! READY TO GO!
I just hope and pray that the Secret Service keeps working over and over time so we do not have to hear that Senator "O" plane has crashed or something like that, 'cause he is going all the way to win this presidency and reconcile the American people with themselves and with the world at large... I believe that were he to become the, the United States of America will really become the undisputed leader of the whole world: the price of oil will drop like a stone and trade between the US and the developing world will grow tenfold by 2015 as people start snapping up all those American-made goods that have no equivalent in the rest of the world, despite all that talk to the contrary... YES WE CAN!
Obama has taken something old (the values of Martin Luther King Jr. and JFK) and put them into a new package, something I also tried with the following song.
Obama is beginning to unite black and white, something I also tried to do in this song.
Obama is gaining momentum, just like this song, the Squeezebox duet, a cover of the Who's...
Squeezebox
Dr BLT featuring mystery guest (Not Beyounce)
http://www.drblt.net/music/SqueezeBoxDemo2.mp3
What is experience For a President?
If experience as a presidential candidate was important, the founding fathers would not have limited the presidency to two terms. Are we saying dictators are better leaders? And, I am an IT expert of sorts, I have been married to my wife for 20 years, I'd like to se a company that will hire my wife based on her "experience".
APRESIDENT is faced by dynamic issues everyday; it is not so much the experience that counts as much as it is the agility of mind and clear vision of the consequences for the nation. As much as I love Hilary Clinton over all other contemporary presidents, including Mr. "What is, is?” who I like too, though I have always suspected he is a Republican in disguise, that's okay. I emphatically say Hilary is no Match for Barrack, in understanding how to regain the American Sovereignty, which has been auctioned off to Europe, China, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Kuwait to name a few. Both in loss of life, intellectual property and basic source for American livelihood. Hilary would make a great president, but America would remain as is and faltering steadily. Obama will bring the Mojo back, it take a little naivety to do that. He has the courage and no excuses.
So if you want to see the America I used to love when I was a young man, racism not withstanding, VOTE the Obama ticket.
If you want to see how fast US becomes a third world country (we are almost there) vote for Clinton or anyone else. Clinton loves the poor so much, yet she can take here own $5M to finance her campaign. Go figure.
I like McCain, but he is an extension of George W. Bush for that he should be tried for war crimes.
Mr. Frank Chatonda,
Yours was truly eloquent. Let's get up and go to work for the Obama ticket. You may contact me at themben@juno.com for modalities. We have work to do like we performed in the Al Gore campaign. Cheers.
Terseer Hemben
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
Send your comments to masspolitics@globe.com
browse this blog
by categoryINside Boston.com