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Obama Cruises; Clinton Retools

Posted on: Monday, 11 February 2008, 06:00 CST

By Jill Lawrence and Fredreka Schouten

McLEAN, Va. -- Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton replaced her campaign manager Sunday as rival Barack Obama rode momentum from five weekend victories into primaries Tuesday in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

In the largely settled Republican race, President Bush sought to rally the party behind likely nominee John McCain. The Arizona senator won a weekend contest in Washington state, but in a sign of continuing resistance from religious and other conservatives, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee -- a former Baptist minister -- won Louisiana and Kansas.

"He is a true conservative," Bush said of McCain, his rival in the 2000 primaries, on Fox News Sunday.

Obama, an Illinois senator, won the Maine caucuses Sunday after victories Saturday in Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington and the Virgin Islands. On top of that, he beat out two former presidents -- Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter -- to win a Grammy for his reading of his book The Audacity of Hope.

Clinton's new campaign manager, Maggie Williams, was her chief of staff as first lady. The departing official, Patti Solis Doyle, said she'll be a senior adviser.

The campaign did not explain the move. "The statement speaks for itself," spokesman Phil Singer said.

All three jurisdictions in Tuesday's "Potomac primary" are led by Democrats: Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine for Obama, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley for Clinton and D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty for Obama.

Kaine said Obama is the underdog though he has raised more money and won more states. "The Clinton political operation is the best Democratic political operation in the last 40 years," he said in an interview.

O'Malley said Maryland Democrats have a "tremendous amount of respect for the kind of progress that was made during President Clinton's administration" and that will benefit the former first lady.

The Potomac primary is an effort by local leaders to gain clout by banding together. At stake are 168 delegates for Democrats and 119 for Republicans.

Obama has battled Clinton to a draw on delegates in contests to date. After Obama's win Sunday in Maine's caucuses, Clinton had 1,136 of 2,025 needed for the nomination to Obama's 1,108, according to the Associated Press. That includes "super delegates," party leaders who are free to support whomever they want.

Demographics favor Obama on Tuesday. All three jurisdictions are bastions of black voters and highly educated voters, two groups he has carried by large margins in earlier contests.

Clinton has shown strength among working-class voters, who will play bigger roles in later contests in Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania.

Virginia's conservative Christians are a natural Huckabee constituency and they could cast "a protest vote" Tuesday, said Robert Lang, co-director of Virginia Tech's Metropolitan Institute. But he said Virginia also has many secular Republicans and military retirees, two groups likely to propel McCain to a victory.

Huckabee was undeterred. "In politics," he said Sunday on CBS' Face the Nation, "so many things can happen that can change the landscape overnight." (c) Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

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