Senator Barack Obama powered past Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the race for Democratic convention delegates Tuesday on another night of triumphs as he swept primary victories in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. His victories were by large margins — he was gaining about 75 percent of the vote in the nation's capital and nearly two-thirds in Virginia. He had 62 percent of the vote in early Maryland returns.
Obama moved past Clinton in the delegate chase on the basis of the day's primaries and newly released results from last Saturday's Washington caucuses. Additional delegates still to be allocated from his new victories were certain to add to his lead. Obama’s share of the Black vote approached 90 percent, and he split the white vote with Clinton. She led among white women, but he was preferred by a majority of white men. "Tonight we're on our way," Obama told cheering supporters in Madison, Wisconsin. "But we know how much further we have to go on," he added, celebrating eight straight victories over Clinton, the former first lady now struggling in a race she once commanded.
By contrast, the Clinton campaign is unsettled. She has lost her long-held lead in delegates and is retooling to retool her staff in the midst of a losing streak. As the votes were counted in her latest setbacks, her deputy campaign manager stepped down. Mike Henry announced his departure one day after Patti Solis Doyle was replaced as campaign manager with Maggie Williams, a longtime confidante of the former first lady. Senator Clinton lent her campaign $5 million in recent days, and is facing defeats next week in Wisconsin and Hawaii.
Both candidates now turn their main attention on the huge amount of delegates in Texas and Ohio, with both states holding primaries on March 4. Rhode Island and Vermont also vote on that date. — the biggest single day left on the Democratic nominating calendar when 370 delegates are allocated. Texas and Ohio will be the main focus, however, where voters will select 193 and 141 delegates, respectively. Between them, the two states have another 55 super delegates. It has almost come to the point that Senator Clinton has to win both states to stay in the race. She has basically written off Wisconsin and Hawaii, which hold primaries next week. She immediately started campaigning in Texas in El Paso, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and McAllen, all predominantly Latino cities where her husband, the former president, is so popular his portrait hangs in many Mexican restaurants. Senator Obama, campaigning for every vote, was in Wisconsin tonight. Both however, begin running TV ads in Texas and Ohio today though. Texas Obama supporters held a rally in Dallas to watch the east coast primary results and got ready to hit the street tomorrow. All the analysts predict that Senator Clinton should win in Texas with its large Latino population, but there is major Obama excitement in North Texas.
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