Hillary Clinton's February flop continued today as voters in Virginia, Maryland and D.C. turned out for Barack Obama by nearly two-to-one margins (in D.C. he won by 75% to 24%). According to exit polls, Obama not only did well with young voters, blacks and independents but, surprisingly, with certain demographics Clinton's been counting on: senior citizens, women and blue collar voters. Polls suggest 49% of those who voted for Obama were white and voters over sixty backed Obama by 52%.
Amidst the fallout, the Times reports that Mike Henry, Clinton’s deputy campaign manager, has resigned. Despite the shake-up, Clinton's camp says they're not sweating it because they're going to show everybody by winning big in Texas and Ohio on March 4th. And if necessary, they'll pull strings to seat the delegates from Florida and Michigan they'd previously agreed were disqualified.
On the Republican side, the major news outlets have all called Virginia, D.C. and Maryland for John McCain, winning over Mike Huckabee. In Virginia, McCain had 50% to Huckabee's 41%; McCain had 68% to 17% in D.C.; and with some of Maryland counted, McCain leads 56% to Huckabee's 29%. McCain needs 1,191 to clinch the nomination; at the moment he has 783 to Huckabee's 217, according to CNN estimates. Huckabee is being pressured to drop out of the race, but he told Larry King he's not quitting.
Polls were held open until 9:30pm in Maryland and D.C. due to snow; the moment they closed the networks immediately projected Obama as Maryland's winner. NBC is projecting D.C. for Obama and McCain. In all, 168 Democratic delegates were up for grabs in the Democratic contest. CNN currently pegs Obama at 1,181 delegates, Hillary at 1,173. Of that, Obama has a lead of 1,014 to 934 in pledged delegates -- people who can't change their minds at this year's Democratic convention. And Obama has now won 21 states to Clinton's 10.
But Clinton is still claiming an edge among superdelegates, those Democratic party big shots who are not beholden to the tawdry will of the voters. If neither candidate clinches the requisite 2,025 to seal the nomination, they may end up making a super mockery of the democratic process.
Next up: Democrats have contest next Tuesday in Hawaii and Wisconsin while Republicans have a contest in Guam on Saturday and Wisconsin next Tuesday.
Photo of Barack Obama at tonight's rally in Madison, Wisconsin by Morry Gash/AP; photo of John McCain at his Primary Watch headquarters in Alexandria, VA by J. Scott Applewhite/AP
