Campaigns Cover the Region In Last Effort to Charm Voters

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Obama Campaigns at UMD

Sen. Barack Obama speaks to thousands of supporters at the University of Maryland's Comcast Center on Monday.

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Huckabee made multiple appearances in Virginia yesterday, including one in Richmond at which he accused some people in the party of trying to crown McCain the nominee, rather than let the nominating process unfold.

"There's a growing chorus of establishment Republicans to sort of call the game here," Huckabee said.

The candidates' spouses also traveled through the region. Appearances included stops by Janet Huckabee in Ellicott City and Annapolis, Michelle Obama at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and Bill Clinton in Fredericksburg and Fairfax.

The Republican primaries in Virginia and the District are winner-take-all contests. In the Maryland GOP primary, delegates will be apportioned according to vote totals, as is the case with the three Democratic contests.

Today's voting should also resolve a closely watched Democratic primary between Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D-Md.) and Donna F. Edwards, a lawyer and social activist who came within 3.3 percentage points of defeating him in 2006. At the Obama event in College Park yesterday, thousands of people were greeted by Edwards's supporters holding signs and then returned to their cars to find Wynn fliers on their windshields.

Today's results could also provide insights into the evolution of the region's politics. Among the looming questions:

Do evangelical and other conservative voters have enough pull in Virginia to provide Huckabee with another upset? Will African American voters in the region turn out in significantly greater numbers for a black candidate with a realistic shot at the presidency? Have Latino voters emerged as a force in Democratic politics? And what kind of pull do Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), who has endorsed Obama, and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), who is backing Clinton, have in their home states?

Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), another of Clinton's high-profile supporters, predicted yesterday that Clinton would be competitive in Maryland, especially in rural parts of the state and the Baltimore area. Mikulski said Clinton is particularly popular with the "night-shift crowd," such as hospital workers and first responders.

At the GM plant, Clinton called for a moratorium on home foreclosures, and she advocated universal health care and an overhaul of the tax code to ensure that it "does not favor the wealthy and the well-connected."

Earlier at the National Council of Negro Women headquarters in the District, Clinton spoke to about 100 supporters.

Clinton said that as she sat on stage with Obama at a recent debate in Los Angeles, "I was thinking, you know, this is what we have been hoping for, praying for, working for, marching for. The civil rights movement. The women's rights movement. . . . It could not be more symbolically exemplified."

She added: "One of us will go on to make history as the Democratic nominee. The real question is: Who will change the country? Who will give us the leadership we so desperately need at this moment in our nation's history? I obviously believe the answer to that is me."

Later, at the University of Virginia, Clinton played guest lecturer for a course taught by Prof. Larry J. Sabato. Clinton spent well over an hour taking questions from students on issues that included the war in Iraq, universal health care, taxes and biofuels.

Students gave her a standing ovation, cheering and snapping photos with their cellphones. Then the whole auditorium seemed to sway, as people in the audience, arms around one another, sang the school's alma mater.

Obama received a rock star's welcome at the University of Maryland and, later in the day, at an arena in downtown Baltimore, where more than 11,000 turned out to see him.

"This a movement," said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), one of the leaders of Obama's effort in Maryland.

In a 45-minute speech, Obama said he is running for president now, instead of waiting, "because of something Dr. King called 'the urgency of now.' "

"We are at a defining moment in our history," Obama said.

Obama's fans in College Park said they came out to see the candidate because his message is unlike any they have heard before.

"For the first time in my life, [the candidate] is not the lesser of two evils," said Chris Wilhelm, campus president of Students for Barack Obama. "He is a transformative figure in electoral politics."

Before his Baltimore rally, Obama stopped by Mayorga Coffee Roasters, a Latino-owned shop in Silver Spring. The event had not been announced publicly and was intended to be a chance for a relatively intimate meeting between the candidate and Latino business owners and elected officials. But when Obama arrived, he was surrounded by such a crush of cameras that there was little opportunity for much talk.

Staff writers Hamil R. Harris, Rosalind S. Helderman, Susan Kinzie, Ann E. Marimow, Avis Thomas-Lester, Philip Rucker, Miranda S. Spivack, Martin Weil and Ovetta Wiggins and the Associated Press contributed to this report.