Suh-weeeeeeeeep!

OBAMA SWEEPS THE POTOMAC PRIMARIES

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Memo to Hillary Rodham Clinton: Barack Obama is stealing your faithful.

The Illinois senator racked up sizable wins in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, besting the former first lady by a margin of 2-to-1 in both places. He also narrowly pulled ahead among delegates for the first time in the contest.

He did so by winning over many of the voters who form the core of Clinton’s political base.

The Democratic rivals have waged a close battle for votes and delegates thus far, in part because they have appealed to different constituencies. Clinton has been strong among traditional Democratic base voters, such as Hispanics and working-class whites. Obama has run strongest among young people, independents, affluent voters and blacks.

Tuesday’s results changed that dynamic, in a way that should trouble the Clinton team.

In Virginia and Maryland, Obama and Clinton were splitting whites almost evenly, according to an exit survey conducted for The Associated Press. Even white women were beginning to move toward the Illinois senator — Clinton won sixty percent of their votes, a much lower percentage than in contests past. Clinton has based her candidacy in large part on her appeal to white women.

In addition to his usual strong showing among young voters, Obama was also running about even among those over 65, a group Clinton usually dominates.

“This is the new American majority. This is what change looks like when it happens from the bottom up,” Obama said to supporters at a campaign rally in Madison, Wis., Tuesday night.

Obama’s resounding wins Tuesday followed a five-contest sweep last weekend in Washington state, Nebraska, Louisiana, Maine and the Virgin Islands.
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