Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama squared off in Maryland and D.C. Obama sweeps Potomac primary

Barack Obama won the Virginia primary Tuesday, and also scored long-anticipated victories in Maryland and the District of Columbia - a triple play that keeps his momentum rolling and throws Hillary Rodham Clinton further on the defensive.

Obama, who stretched his streak of consecutive victories over Clinton to eight, also emerged for the first time as the Democratic delegate leader. A count by the Associated Press showed him leading Clinton by a 1,186 to 1,181 margin Both are far from the 2,025 needed to win the nomination.


Turnout was high throughout the region as voters went to the polls in chilly temperatures and a gathering glaze of sleet and rain. A Maryland judge extended voting statewide for 90 minutes - until 9:30 p.m. - because of traffic problems caused by bad weather. Returns from D.C. also also were delayed.

Republicans also had contests in all three localities, with Arizona Sen. John McCain hoping to brush back a recent surge by his chief remaining rival, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. McCain, after trailing Huckabee in early returns, won in Virginia and also triumphed handily in Maryland and D.C.

Huckabee "certainly keeps things interesting, a little too interesting at times tonight, I must confess," McCain told supporters in Virginia. " We have come a long way in this campaign, and we have had our ups and downs. But as luck, that product of opportunity and industry, would have it, we are approaching the end of the first half of this election on quite an upswing."

Obama won decisive victories in all three primaries; his campaign pointed out that with nearly all the vote counted in Virginia, he was more than 1,000,000 votes ahead of all Republicans combined.

He appeared exultant when he addressed supporters in Madison, Wis. "Today, the change we seek swept through the Chesapeake and over the Potomac," Obama said. “The cynics can no longer say our hope is false; we have won east and west, north and south."

Clinton, meanwhile, has endured a week of blaring headlines over her losses, the departure of campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle and her admission that she lent her campaign $5 million of her own money. Another top Clinton staffer, deputy campaign manager Mike Henry, resigned on Tuesday.

Clinton was already looking ahead to March 4 contests in Ohio and Texas as her best way to slow Obama’s momentum.

She spent the day doing satellite interviews with 10 television stations in Texas, Ohio and Wisconsin before heading to an election night rally in El Paso, Texas. "I'm tested, I'm ready, let's make it happen," she told a cheering crowd.