Winning Streak Extends To District, Md. and Va.

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The Candidates React -- Obama

Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) addresses his supporters from Madison, Wis. after Tuesday's Potomac primary election results filter in.

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Clinton advisers see those states as friendly -- Ohio because of its economic problems and sizable blue-collar population, and Texas because of its large Latino vote, which the senator from New York carried impressively in earlier contests. Democratic strategists said last night that Obama's victories will make those contests more competitive.

"I don't buy the momentum argument," Wolfson said. "We have seen time and time again that candidates with momentum did not win the state they were supposed to win. . . . Voters make independent judgments about who they think is the best person. Momentum is a media narrative, not something voters consider."

Several Democratic strategists questioned that view. "Just trying to hold on until Texas and Ohio while Obama picks up more and more steam is a very risky strategy for Clinton," one, who requested anonymity to be candid, wrote in an e-mail.

Clinton advisers consider upcoming debates in Ohio and Texas critical opportunities to shift voters' focus away from Obama's winning streak and to the differences between the candidates. "We're in the solutions business and he's in the promises business," one senior adviser said.

Turnout at polling sites across the Washington metropolitan region soared. Voters seized on the opportunity to help decide the Democratic nomination after years in which the competition has largely been over before reaching the area.

Election officials reported potentially record-breaking turnout for a primary across the region, with hour-long waits at many polling places and shortages of "I voted" stickers. Maryland and Virginia broke some patterns of past contests between Obama and Clinton in the shape of the candidates' support, according to exit polls from the National Election Pool.

Obama strategist David Axelrod noted those results as he waited for the senator to take the stage in Wisconsin last night. "You can see some of the coalition filling in now," he said. "We exceeded our expectations. We won across all kinds of demographic groups and answered a lot of questions in that regard. It was a great day."

As in other states, Obama racked up huge margins among black voters in Maryland and Virginia. Clinton won a majority of white women, as she has throughout the nominating season, but Obama won white men in Virginia and split that group in Maryland.

Obama also led Clinton in almost every age category, a break from previous contests in which he won younger voters but Clinton often carried older voters. Obama's biggest margins were among those younger than 45, but he also led among those ages 45 to 60. He and Clinton split voters age 65 and older.

In earlier primaries, Obama won liberals while Clinton captured moderates. Yesterday, he was winning both groups. In the past, he won among wealthier voters while she won among the less affluent, but yesterday he was winning both decisively. He also won voters who have no college degree -- normally a group that favors Clinton. Obama easily carried independents, as he has in the past, but he also won among Democrats, where Clinton has been stronger.

About half of voters in Maryland and Virginia cited the economy as their top concern, similar to results in other states that have already held a primary or caucus. Yesterday, Obama won that group decisively.

Obama also beat Clinton among voters who named health care as their top concern, even though this has been an area of strength for Clinton. Almost a third of Democratic voters in Maryland and Virginia called the Iraq war the biggest issue in the campaign, and Obama beat Clinton among these voters by 2 to 1.

In Virginia, Obama handily beat Clinton in Hampton Roads, Northern Virginia and almost all of the state's central counties, including Richmond and its suburbs. In vote-rich Alexandria and Arlington, which has a growing immigrant population and many affluent young professionals, he bested her by more than 20 percentage points.

But Obama's success also extended into the outer suburbs. He won Prince William and Loudoun counties, even though Clinton's team believed that she could do well there by winning over women.

Younger and well-educated voters also flocked to Obama. In Albemarle County, home of the University of Virginia, he had nearly 70 percent of the vote with all of the precincts reporting. He also had narrow leads in several overwhelmingly white rural counties in the northern Shenandoah Valley.

But Clinton was winning big in Southwest Virginia's coal country, underscoring that Obama continues to struggle in connecting with working-class Democrats.

According to preliminary results in Maryland, Obama swept the Washington-Baltimore corridor, gaining huge majorities in mostly-black Prince George's County and Baltimore City. He also appeared to carry Anne Arundel, Charles, Howard and Montgomery counties by comfortable margins.

Clinton was doing relatively well in Maryland among traditional Democrats in small towns and in rural counties, including winning several counties on the Eastern Shore and in the western part of the state.

Unlike Virginia, where any registered voter can participate in the Democratic primary, Maryland's contest was limited to those registered with the party.

The party's primary split the Washington region's elected officials. In Maryland, Gov. Martin O'Malley and Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski backed Clinton.

But in Virginia, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, the state's three Democratic congressmen and half of the Democrats in the state Senate supported Obama.

Staff writers Anne E. Kornblut with Clinton and Peter Slevin with Obama, polling director Jon Cohen and polling analyst Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.