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Obama Takes Lead
Over Clinton With Three Big Primary Wins

Obama Takes Lead
Over Clinton With Three Big Primary Wins

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Barack Obama powered past Hillary Rodham Clinton in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, taking the lead in delegates for the first time with three commanding victories in and around the U.S. capital. Clinton, considered the overwhelming Democratic favorite just a few weeks ago, has now lost eight straight contests with her defeats Tuesday in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. She was shaking up her staff and turning her attention to must-win races next month in Texas and Ohio. Obama is counting on wins in Wisconsin and his birthplace, Hawaii, next week.

Barack Obama powered past Hillary Rodham Clinton in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, taking the lead in delegates for the first time with three commanding victories in and around the U.S. capital.

Clinton, considered the overwhelming Democratic favorite just a few weeks ago, has now lost eight straight contests with her defeats Tuesday in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. She was shaking up her staff and turning her attention to must-win races next month in Texas and Ohio.

Obama is counting on wins in Wisconsin and his birthplace, Hawaii, next week.

On the Republican side, John McCain took another step toward locking up his party's nomination by winning all three contests, despite lukewarm support from the party's conservative base. The victories helped the Arizona senator save face after embarrassing losses to rival Mike Huckabee over the weekend.

With his string of wins, Obama has been increasingly targeting McCain, looking ahead to the November election. In a speech to 17,000 people at the University of Wisconsin, he linked McCain to what he described as the failed policies of President George W. Bush.

''George Bush won't be on the ballot this November, but the Bush-Cheney war and the Bush-Cheney tax cuts for the wealthy will be on the ballot,'' he said.

Obama policy adviser Susan Rice said he will emphasize the economy in upcoming voting states, including the March 4 primaries in Texas and Ohio, beginning with an economic speech Wednesday at a General Motors plant in Wisconsin.

''He will focus on the message that matters most to the people in those states, which is of course the economy,'' Rice said in an interview Wednesday with CNN.

The Associated Press count of delegates showed Obama with 1,223, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Clinton had 1,198, falling behind for the first time since the campaign began. Neither was close to the 2,025 needed to win the nomination at the party's national convention this summer in Denver.

The Illinois senator's victories Tuesday were by large margins. He was gaining about 75% of the vote in Washington, D.C., and nearly two thirds in Virginia. In Maryland, he was winning close to 60%.

Obama won at least 65 delegates in Tuesday's primaries, with 70 still to be awarded. Clinton won at least 33.

Clinton is counting on strong support from Hispanic voters to propel her to victory in Texas as they did in California on Super Tuesday a week ago. In El Paso, Texas, she repeated her campaign theme that she has the experience, as a senator and former first lady, to lead the United States.

''I'm tested, I'm ready, let's make it happen,'' she yelled to a boisterous crowd of about 12,000 on Tuesday night.

Clinton did not mention Tuesday's results, but there were lingering signs of the disquiet in her campaign. Her deputy campaign manager resigned Tuesday, the latest departure in a staff shake-up.

In an e-mail message to staffers, Mike Henry said he was stepping down to allow campaign manager Maggie Williams to build her own team. Williams replaced Patti Solis Doyle over the weekend.

Clinton is seeking to become the first female U.S. president, while Obama is trying to become the first black president. Analysts have focused on whether the candidates can draw voters across racial and gender lines.

For Obama, Tuesday's results were encouraging.

Interviews with voters leaving the polls Tuesday showed Obama narrowly defeated Clinton among white voters in Virginia, 52% to 47%, the first time he has done that in a Southern state and only the fourth time he has done so in a competitive primary this year. Clinton won the white vote by 10 percentage points in Maryland.

Obama won 90% of the black vote in Virginia and almost as much in Maryland.

Clinton won a majority of white women in both states, though by less than she is accustomed to. Obama won among white men in Virginia, and they split that vote in Maryland.

McCain's victory in Virginia was a relatively close one, by nine percentage points, the result of an outpouring of religious conservatives who backed Huckabee. McCain received about half the vote in Virginia, and about 55% in Maryland.

McCain, a four-term senator, aimed much of his rhetoric at Obama and his message of hope and optimism. The 46-year-old Obama has been criticized for his lack of experience; he is serving his first term as a U.S. senator from Illinois.

McCain cautioned, ''To encourage a country with only rhetoric rather than sound and proven ideas that trust in the strength and courage of free people is not a promise of hope. It's a platitude.''

The AP count showed McCain with 821 delegates. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who dropped out of the race last week, had 288. Huckabee had 241 and Texas congressman Ron Paul had 14.

It takes 1,191 delegates to clinch the Republican nomination at the party's convention in St. Paul, Minn., and McCain appears to be on track to reach the target by late April. (AP)

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