Obama Handily Wins in 3 States

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Huckabee Draws Large Crowd at U-Md.

A crowd of nearly 1,000 people greeted former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee today at the University of Maryland.

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The former first lady did not campaign in Louisiana, sending her husband to the state to represent her while she visited states in which she was more likely to pick up delegates. It was a surprising omission symbolically -- Louisiana has become a vital backdrop for Democrats since Hurricane Katrina -- but aides said that it made strategic sense.

Her campaign is already predicting defeat in races that will be held over the rest of this month and is turning its attention to the contests in Ohio and Texas on March 4 and in Pennsylvania on April 22. There are almost as many delegates at stake in those three states -- about 600 -- as there are in all the post-Super Tuesday contests in February.

Yesterday, Clinton traveled to Maine before flying to Richmond for the Democratic Party dinner, where she spoke about two hours before Obama did. She will campaign in Manassas and Roanoke and then attend a town hall meeting in Bowie today, ahead of Tuesday's Virginia-Maryland-D.C. "Potomac Primary."

Obama will campaign in Alexandria and Virginia Beach today, while actress Alfre Woodard will campaign for him in Maryland at a rally at Morgan State University in Baltimore.

Former president Bill Clinton also has stops in the D.C. area today, starting out by attending church in Southeast before visiting Upper Marlboro, Catonsville, Baltimore and Silver Spring. Chelsea Clinton is scheduled to appear at a "Hillary Speaks for Me" event at Ultrabar downtown tonight.

At the Richmond dinner, Clinton did her best to appeal to a crowd filled with Obama supporters in a state that her campaign has not given up on but is bracing to lose. Asking the audience to envision the day a new president is inaugurated in 2009, Clinton said: "Our task tonight is to make sure that president is a Democrat."

"Because after seven long years of George W. Bush, seven years of incompetence, corruption and cronyism, seven years of government of the few, by the few and for the few, the next president will face tremendous challenges," Clinton said, eliciting boos as she mentioned President Bush. "As the president walks into the Oval Office, waiting there will be two wars, an economy in trouble, the health-care crisis, the energy crisis, all of the problems that I hear about every day from all across America."

The former first daughter is continuing to campaign for her mother despite the campaign's outrage over a remark made by an MSNBC host, David Shuster, that she is being "pimped out" by the campaign on her mother's behalf. Shuster apologized on the air and was suspended, but yesterday, Clinton sent a letter to NBC News President Steve Capus complaining about a "pattern of behavior" on the cable network.

Clinton's campaign has launched a coordinated effort to discredit Chris Matthews, the host of "Hardball," and has also criticized "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert for his aggressive questioning of the candidate during a Democratic debate earlier this year.

"I became Chelsea's mother long before I ran for any office, and I will always be a mom first and a public official second," Clinton wrote.

On the Republican side, former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney both dropped out of the race after disappointing performances in earlier primaries, essentially conceding the nomination to McCain.

But Huckabee has refused to back down, buoyed by victories in Southern states on Super Tuesday. He said yesterday that he will stay in the race until either he or McCain has the number of delegates required to clinch the nomination at the party's national convention in Minnesota in early September. With the win in Kansas, Huckabee has 234 delegates, compared with McCain's 719.