As Crunchtime Arrives, All-Out Appeal in Region

Video

Obama Rallies Supporters in Alexandria, Va.

Presidential candidate Barack Obama went to Northern Virginia today to hold a rally at T.C. Williams High School.

» LAUNCH VIDEO PLAYER

Still, because the delegates on the Democratic side are distributed in proportion to the candidates' vote totals, Clinton can stay even with Obama in the overall race even if she loses in all three jurisdictions. The battle for the Democratic nomination is expected to extend long beyond tomorrow and has become so intense that even the former president acknowledged how tough it is for voters.

"All my life, I wanted to vote for a woman as president. And all my life, I wanted to vote for an African American as president. It's hard to know why God gave us this dilemma," Bill Clinton told an enthusiastic crowd of 2,500 at Temple of Praise in Southeast Washington. "All I can tell you is that the most important thing now -- because of the war in Iraq and prestige around the world -- is that you pick the best president. Think and pray on it. . . . Whatever you decide, I honor it."

As the Democratic candidates barnstormed the Beltway, the three remaining Republicans -- Arizona Sen. John McCain, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas -- had a far quieter presence.

McCain is well ahead in the GOP race and stayed off the trail yesterday. Huckabee appeared on morning news shows and spoke at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, the late Jerry Falwell's church. And Paul issued a statement on his Web site vowing to "fight on, in every caucus and primary remaining" while acknowledging that he would have to devote time to his reelection bid for his congressional seat.

In dueling appearances in Northern Virginia, Obama and Clinton hammered at familiar themes: Obama focusing on hope; Clinton, on experience. Both pledged to bring change after eight years of President Bush and run forcefully against McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.

"Probably not since Harry Truman have we had a president who will inherit two wars, an economy in trouble, millions of people losing their health care and millions of families on the brink of losing their homes," Clinton told more than 500 people at Grace E. Metz Middle School in Manassas, stressing the need for the president to be ready the first day in office.

Rachel Querry and daughter Kate, 7, traveled from their home in New Market in Frederick County to see Clinton at the school. Once a supporter of former North Carolina senator John Edwards, Querry said after the rally that she had been persuaded to vote for Clinton.

"She drew distinctions between her and Obama in a way that was direct but not nasty," Querry said.

A short drive away, Obama, joined by Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), who has endorsed him, spoke to supporters at T.C. Williams, using the high school's racially and economically segregated past -- as told in the book and movie "Remember the Titans" -- to describe his agenda to improve the quality of schools and access to higher education. More than 4,000 people crowded into the school to see him; hundreds more, unable to get in, waited on the sidewalks. Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) endorsed the senator at the event.

Obama challenged the criticism that he hasn't had enough Washington experience and that he is a "talker, not a doer."

"Nothing worthwhile ever happened in this country without somebody willing to hope," he said.

Across the region and on national television, surrogates for Obama and Clinton made the cases for their candidates. Kaine squared off against Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), who is supporting Clinton, on ABC News' "This Week" program. O'Malley then traveled to Bethesda, where he debated Kennedy before a group of Democratic activists.