Last night's results (D)
Posted: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 9:11 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
Democrats
The
Washington Post says Obama “won Virginia with about 64 percent of the vote. In Maryland, where the polls were kept open an additional 90 minutes because of bad weather, he was winning with about 60 percent to Clinton's 37 percent. He was headed for an even bigger win in the District, where he was attracting about 75 percent of the vote. The lopsided wins mean Obama will emerge with a clear majority of the 168 pledged delegates at stake in the area, as well as a widening lead overall among the more than 65 percent of pledged delegates who have now been accounted for nationally. When superdelegates are added to the calculations, Obama and Clinton are still in a highly competitive race, but Obama has seized the overall lead.”
The
New York Times: “The outcome provided [Obama] his first chance to assert that the Democratic race, which had seemed to be heading into a protracted standoff, is beginning to break in his direction. And it left Mrs. Clinton facing weeks in which she has few opportunities for the kind of victory that would alter the race in her favor after a string of defeats notable not just for their number but also their magnitude.”
The New York Times’ Nagourney lists these obstacles for Clinton. “For one thing, if this is an election where a candidate wins by virtue of being seen as winning — a definition of momentum — that would mean that voters in coming states would be influenced by the outcome of earlier races. And Mr. Obama might then be in a position to encroach on Mrs. Clinton’s firewall of Texas and Ohio. Perhaps most problematically, the delegate selection process … could now begin to work against Mrs. Clinton. Both candidates get a share of the delegates, even if one wins by a margin of 20 points. That is a reason Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama had stayed so close on delegate numbers, and why it becomes harder for her to reclaim a lead.”
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But he also provides this reason for hope for Team Clinton. “[W]hatever challenges Mrs. Clinton faces, she has repeatedly proved to be a resourceful candidate with a sharp campaign organization and a passionate base of supporters. Should she win in Ohio and Texas, she could halt Mr. Obama’s claim to momentum and keep the race for pledged delegates from breaking against her. And there has been a history in this campaign of Mr. Obama winning, only to have Mrs. Clinton return and win.”
The
Los Angeles Times: “Obama's victories marked the first time in six weeks of balloting that either Democratic candidate has strung together so many successive wins. For a time, they traded triumphs every week or so. But Obama started to broaden his support in the last few rounds; he continued to make inroads Tuesday.”
The New York Daily News: “The lopsided wins were a body blow to Clinton's already battered campaign, which had been hoping to slow Obama's momentum heading into Texas and Ohio on March 4. The Illinois senator only picked up more steam.”
USA Today’s Page looks inside the exit polls. “Obama broadened his electoral coalition and swamped Clinton in both Democratic-leaning Maryland and Republican-leaning Virginia. Exit polls in both states showed him carrying African-American voters by nearly 9-1 and splitting white voters about evenly. He led among men and women.”
The AP’s Fouhy adds, “Memo to Hillary Rodham Clinton: Barack Obama is stealing your faithful… Even white women were beginning to move toward the Illinois senator - Clinton won nearly 60 percent of their votes, a much lower percentage than in contests past. Clinton has based her candidacy in large part on her appeal to white women. In addition to his usual strong showing among young voters, Obama was also running about even among those over 65, a group Clinton usually dominates.”
“Barring a dramatic run-of-the-table by Clinton or Obama in the weeks ahead and a concession from the other, neither will reach that tally without superdelegates,” the Boston Globe writes. “And it is impossible to know what event will catalyze superdelegates to coalesce behind one or the other (if they coalesce at all): Obama pulling off a win in Ohio or Texas on March 4 or Clinton scoring commanding victories in Ohio, Texas, and Pennsylvania?”
The Boston Globe’s Canellos lead, “Clinton's supporters flipped on their televisions on Saturday night, Sunday night, and last night hoping to watch ‘The Amazing Race’ and ended up with ‘The Biggest Loser.’”
