By John Wagner and Perry Bacon Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, February 13, 2008; A27

In Virginia, Mike Huckabee at least made a contest of it with John McCain, the Republicans' presumptive nominee, while across the Potomac River in Maryland, he was an also-ran.

The divergent fates of Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister, spoke to the differences between GOP politics in the two states and the Arizona senator's rocky history with Virginia. They also were partly attributable to different rules governing the two contests, analysts said.

McCain was leading Huckabee, 50.3 percent to 40.4 percent, with almost all precincts reporting in Virginia. In Maryland, exit polls suggested that the margin could be two or three times as large.

Appearing in Little Rock last night, Huckabee pointed to his relatively strong showing in Virginia to argue that the party's base is rallying around him, saying it reinforced his decision to continue in the race despite McCain's almost insurmountable lead in delegates.

"It shows there's still a real sense in the Republican Party, a desire to have a choice, a desire to make sure voters who want a solid conservative, absolutely pro-life candidate still exist," said Huckabee, who asserted that his campaign was headed for a few "intense weeks" ahead.

In Virginia, Huckabee ran strongest in rural western Virginia, the state's Bible Belt.

Exit polls showed that 46 percent of Virginia voters identified themselves as evangelicals, and they voted overwhelmingly for Huckabee over McCain: 60 percent to 31 percent.

In Maryland, a smaller percentage of self-identified evangelicals, 35 percent, participated in the primary. And among those who did vote, Huckabee was not as dominant. In Maryland, Huckabee led among evangelicals, 52 percent to 35 percent.

"There's no comparable evangelical base in Maryland," said Allan J. Lichtman, a presidential historian at American University.

Huckabee was also dominant in Virginia among self-described conservatives, leading 51 percent to 38 percent, according to exit polls.

In Maryland, McCain drew a larger share of self-described conservatives than Huckabee, 43 percent to 36 percent.

"The Virginia Republican Party is much more conservative than even the conservative wing of the Maryland Republican Party," said Donald F. Norris, chairman of the Department of Public Policy at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Huckabee supporters in Maryland also pointed to larger rural swaths in Virginia.

"The rural population is also significantly larger in Virginia than Maryland, and Governor Huckabee has been able to connect with those areas," said Del. Christopher B. Shank (R-Washington), the minority whip in the Maryland House of Delegates and a leading Huckabee supporter in the state.

Shank was among only a handful of elected officials in Maryland who supported Huckabee's bid. The state's most prominent Republican, former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), and other members of the party establishment rallied around McCain in the closing days of the race.

In Virginia, even some of McCain's supporters saw a mixed message in his victory.

"John McCain has got some work to do to demonstrate his conservative bona fides," said Virginia Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell, a conservative who threw his support behind McCain only last week. "John McCain is excellent on spending, on defense issues, getting a budget under control and fighting terrorists. But on immigration or campaign finance or energy policy or some of the traditional values issues, he's got some work to do."

McCain has had a difficult relationship with conservatives, and Virginia holds a special place in that history.

His advocacy of granting illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, his refusal to back a national ban on same-sex marriage and his support of campaign finance restrictions have caused small-government, social-values conservatives to bristle.

During a campaign swing through Virginia in 2000, for example, the candidate sealed his fate with conservative voters by calling two of the state's most prominent religious leaders, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, "agents of intolerance." George Bush won the state's primary.

McCain has made peace with key conservative leaders in Virginia, including Falwell before he died last year. But Huckabee was expected by many to fare well with the estimated one-third of Virginia adults who call themselves evangelical Protestants.

Mark Vayda, 82, voted for Huckabee yesterday at Park View High School in Sterling. Of McCain, he said: "I don't trust the man at all. I believe in sealing the borders. I like Spanish people, but I'm against all forms of illegal immigration."

Party rules also helped explain yesterday's results, analysts said.

In Virginia, independents were allowed to vote in the Republican and Democratic primaries. Given a tighter, more exciting contest on the Democratic side, many of those independents probably participated in that contest. That left a more conservative pool of voters participating in the Republican primary, said Thomas F. Schaller, a political science professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

In Maryland, only Republicans were allowed to vote in their party's contest.

And campaigning probably mattered, too. Huckabee put in one appearance in Maryland in the closing days of the race. He was a more familiar presence in Virginia, where his television ads aired with greater frequency.

Staff writer Amy Gardner contributed to this report. Bacon reported from Little Rock.