Day: February 12, 2008

Barack Obama ran his winning streak to 8 for 8 Tuesday night, sweeping the Virginia, Maryland and District of Columbia primaries, following up on strong wins in five other primaries and caucuses over the past week.

Obama finishes the sweep as the undisputed front runner for the Democratic Presidential nomination and the final delegate count is expected to wipe out Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presumptive lead among so called “super delegates.”

On the GOP side, John McCain continued his inevitable march to the Republican nomination with close wins in Virginia and DC and a convincing win in Maryland.

Clinton, shaking up her campaign staff by sacking her manager and deputy manager, appears to be conceding February to Obama, deciding instead to concentrate on delegate-laden states like Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

For years, Bill and Hillary Clinton treated the Democratic National Committee and party activists as extensions of their White House ambitions, pawns in a game of success and survival.

She may pay a high price for their selfishness soon.

Top Democrats, including some inside Hillary Clinton’s campaign, say many party leaders — the so-called superdelegates — won’t hesitate to ditch the former New York senator for Barack Obama if her political problems persist. Their loyalty to the first couple is built on shaky ground.

Sen. Barack Obama was drawing strong support across race and gender lines Tuesday in Virginia in a bold grab at some of the core backers of his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Obama was evenly splitting the state’s white vote with Clinton, according to prelimary figures from exit polls, a blow to the New York senator who has long held a clear advantage with that group. Until now, Clinton has gotten more than half their vote, allowing her to offset Obama’s huge margins with blacks.

Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has found a lot of ways to explain her string of losses to Sen. Barack Obama. She’s going to have to come up with yet another excuse for losing Virginia Tuesday night.

Obama prevailed by a 2-to-1 margin in the state based on exit surveys. He was also expected to win primaries in Maryland and the District of Columbia, after sweeping four states plus the Virgin Islands this past weekend.

It’s been a weekly challenge for Clinton, once the “inevitable” front-runner, to justify her losses.

A surging Sen. Barack Obama has captured both the Virginia and District of Columbia primaries Tuesday while polls remain open later than scheduled in Maryland due to weather.

Sen. John McCain has captured a close race in Virginia.

With Obama expected to capture 60 percent of the vote in the Old Dominion, the Illinois Senator continues to put distance between himself and former frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The television networks declared Obama the winner in DC based on exit polls.

Clinton has already moved on, hoping to rebound in delegate-laden states like Ohio, Texas and Ohio.

Barack Obama has won Virginia’s Democratic primary, defeating Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Obama is also hoping to capture first place in Tuesday’s Democratic primaries in Maryland and the District of Columbia.

Republicans are voting, too, and it looks like Mike Huckabee is making an unexpectedly strong challenge to John McCain in Virginia.

The Associated Press made its Democratic call based on surveys of voters as they left the polls.

Resisting calls from Barack Obama to release her income tax returns, Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday she would only do so if she secures the Democratic presidential nomination and contended her rival had been less than candid about his relationship with major campaign contributors.

Democrat Barack Obama hopes to rout Hillary Rodham Clinton in presidential primaries in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia while Republican John McCain seeks to put more distance between himself and Mike Huckabee.

Coming off weekend victories in five contests, Obama was favored to win the Tuesday trio of primaries thanks to a blend of black and better educated voters in those areas, blocs that have aided his wins in earlier matchups against Clinton. Likewise, McCain was favored on the GOP side.

“We need something new,” Obama told a huge rally at the University of Maryland on Monday, dismissing the former first lady’s suggestions that he is not tough enough for the rigors of the presidency.

The current position of conservative ideologues on Sen. John McCain’s worthiness to be the Republican presidential nominee reminds one of the young man who threatens to punish a strict father by joining the Army. The result is likely to be far worse than accepting the fact that not everyone is as philosophically perfect as one would like. Thank the good Lord.

I cannot count the number of women I have heard call Hillary Rodham Clinton a “damned fool” and “an idiot,” along with other names, for staying with her adulterous husband, President Bill Clinton, after the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

When I try to defend Hillary Clinton, particularly now that she is running for the White House, I have to fight off and otherwise absorb a lot of incredulity and anger. Three women treated me to a profanity-laced scolding, the likes of which I have not experienced since Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island.