Obama Looks To Ride Wave Of Momentum

(CBS/AP)  Democrat Barack Obama looked to a trio of races Tuesday to carry him past rival Hillary Clinton in their battle for the White House, while the former first lady dismissed talk that her campaign was in trouble after a series of losses.

John McCain, the Republicans' presumptive nominee, also eyed the election contests in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., to rebound from embarrassing weekend losses to rival Mike Huckabee and show that he can rally the party's conservative base behind him.

In the Democratic race, Obama, locked in an epic battle with Clinton for the party's nomination, was counting on those three primaries to erase Clinton's slim delegate lead for an edge in a contest that could stretch to the Democrats' national convention in August.

Black Democrats, who have supported the Illinois senator in his bid to be the first black U.S. president, are expected to factor large in the three so-called Potomac primary races, named after the river that touches all three localities.

Obama's nearly 5-1 margin among blacks has forced Hillary Clinton to fight for a voting bloc once felt to be securely hers, reports CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds.

Over the weekend, Obama secured a clean sweep in five races: Louisiana, Washington state, Nebraska, Maine and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Clinton's losses, coupled with her decision to replace her campaign manager with a longtime aide and Obama's infusion of new funds, fueled talk that the New York senator's campaign bid was falling on tough times. Clinton dismissed such speculation Monday.

"I'm still ahead in the popular vote and in delegates," Clinton told reporters at a Maryland campaign stop, though the numbers do not fully support that statement.

Delegate estimates compiled by CBS News gave Obama a slim lead after a string of convincing weekend victories in Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington, the Virgin Islands and Maine. Including superdelegates, the Democratic elected officials and party leaders who have a vote at the party's convention, Obama has 1,139 delegates while Clinton has 1,132. A candidate needs 2,025 delegates to secure the nomination. (View the Democratic delegate scorecard.)

Clinton, who is seeking to become the U.S.'s first female president, is also looking for a big rebound in the high-stakes March 4 primaries in Texas and Ohio. Both candidates said Monday they were launching ads in those states.

Obama is riding a wave of support after winning more states than Clinton in the 22 contests on Super Tuesday last week and then sweeping the weekend races by wide margins. The remainder of the February calendar looks favorable to him, including next week's contests in Wisconsin and his native Hawaii.

Obama was loose and enjoying himself Monday in front of another huge crowd - looking every bit the man who swept all the contests this past weekend, reports Reynolds

Clinton and Obama largely agree on the major issues, so both are increasingly emphasizing who would be the stronger candidate in the general election against McCain.

An Associated Press-Ipsos poll shows Obama would narrowly defeat McCain if the presidential election were being held now. If Clinton were the Democratic nominee, she and McCain would run about even.

Obama said Monday he is the candidate who can lead the country out of a long period of divisive and ineffective government, a theme he increasingly uses against Clinton, who was first lady for eight years.

"We need something new," he said, dismissing Clinton's suggestions that he is not tough enough to handle the rigors of the presidency.

But the Democratic nomination is far from decided, with weeks or months of campaigning still ahead. Clinton is an experienced campaigner certainly capable of pulling off more surprise wins, as she did Jan. 8 in New Hampshire. The AP-Ipsos poll still shows Clinton leading Obama 46 percent to 41 percent nationally among Democrats.

Clinton said she never expected to do well in any of the weekend contests, and her campaign predicted that while Obama may take the spoils in February, March would be her month.

In the Republican race, McCain challenged the notion he is struggling to rally conservative critics as he picked up the endorsement of Gary Bauer, an evangelical leader.

"We're doing fine. We're doing fine," McCain told reporters in Annapolis, Maryland.

Bauer, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, said in an interview with the AP that he wanted to "unite conservatives" and that McCain's anti-abortion stance makes him a better choice than Clinton or Obama.

McCain is "going to need every last one of the conservative activists," he said.

McCain lost to preacher-turned-politician Huckabee on Saturday in Kansas and Louisiana, although he won narrowly in Washington state. Huckabee's weekend victories highlight the difficulty the veteran Arizona senator faces in convincing the party's core right-wing blocs that he is one of them.

Still, McCain is all but assured his party nod after rolling up huge numbers of delegates to the national convention. CBS News delegate estimates McCain has won 705 delegates so far, giving him nearly 60 percent of the 1,191 required to secure the nomination. Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, is far behind, with 199 delegates. (View the Republican delegate scorecard.)

McCain appeared likely to rebound on Tuesday in the next Republican contests. Polls conducted last week by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. showed the Arizona senator leading Huckabee by nearly 30 percentage point margins in both Virginia and Maryland. The Republicans also compete in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

[b-easy63]

Posted by pacific_c at 01:29 AM : Feb 13, 2008

It must really gall you when you turn around and see the small but sincere Hilary crowds (12,000 is her largest eh?) to note your fellow Hitlery voters are either stumbling around bumping into walls, not there, because the site wasn''t on the bus route, or are shriveled up old ladies with bandy legs, or are old men with plaid pants pulled up to their armpits--to think this is what Hitlery inspires: The stupid, the dying and decrepit and those too poor due to NAFTA to get out either credit cards to support her, or get themselves to the sites to cheer for her. We feel for you--living in the past.

YOur time has come and gone. And we all know your group is on their way out--the future belongs who those who will actually be in it now--grandma. This is NOT your granny''s or gramps or even your America any longer. And thanks for allowing Social Security to be gutted for the past 30 years.

[b-easy63]

We%u2019re going to sweep across Texas in the next three weeks, bringing our message about what we need in America: The kind of president that will be required on day one to be commander in chief, to turn the economy around,%u201D Clinton told a crowd of thousands in El Paso Thursday night. %u201CI%u2019m tested. I%u2019m ready. Let%u2019s make this happen."


Hilary: "yeah, I''''m tested and I''''m ready!! so what if I can''''t manage my campaign and my core group is splintering...so what if I can''''t manage the campaign money and have to lend myself millions to survive one month? I SWEAR I''''ll do better, when it''''s the entire country and YOUR money, I get to manage--honest"

You have a point Hilary. Bush had ''''experience'''' and it showed he ran all businesses he owned into the ground and had to be bailed out (then he did it on the macro scale with the country) now you are showing that with your experience--you can''''t call a war right, don''''t know how to back off of torture, can''''t release your finances and can''''t even run or direct a Presidential campaign. We gave Bush a shot--why not you?


Why not, indeed.

[pacific_c]

How dare anyone unilaterally decide when to turn the page on history, papering over real inequities & suffering constituencies in the promise of a feel-good campaign? How dare anyone claim to unify while dividing, or think that to rouse U.S. youth from torpor it%u2019s useful to triage the single largest demographic in this country%u2019s history: the majority of which is female? Old woman are the women who changed the reality of the United States. We are the women who brought this country equal credit, better pay, affirmative action, a family-focused workplace; the women who put childcare on the national agenda, established rape-crisis centers & battery shelters, marital-rape & date-rape laws; fought for prison reform, founded the peace & environmental movements; who insisted that medical research include female anatomy; created women%u2019s studies & Title. We are the proud successors of women who, though it took more than 50 years, won us the vote.
Time is short & the contest tightening. We need to rise in furious energy%u2014as we did when Anita Hill was so vilely treated in the U.S. Senate, as we did when Rosie Jiminez was butchered by an illegal abortion. We need to win, this time. Goodbye to supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton tepidly. Time to volunteer, make phone calls, send emails, donate money, argue, rally, march, shout, vote. I support Senator Clinton because I believe she will make history not only as the first US woman president, but as a great US president. - Robin Morgan

[photomont]

The only change I''m going to see is my voting status from democrate to Republican !

[tane_lewis]

A man of integrity with as much good will and good humor as he is just and humane - the Atticus Finch of our time! He exudes a fatherly, comforting persona that takes me back to the semi-fictional hero of To Kill A Mockingbird.

[tane_lewis]

A man of integrity with as much good will and good humor as he is just and humane - the Atticus Finch of our time! He exudes a fatherly, comforting persona that takes me back to the semi-fictional hero of To Kill A Mockingbird.

[chitown639]

No fool like an oldthought...oopps...I mean old fool!!

[Netterz]

Your obviously young then&are not up on History. Check who supported WHO in what wars. You say my president as if I support Bush & cronies as you call it, when I openly stated that I dont believe in party lines? Your the example of ''ASSUME'' makes an a$$ out of.. Middle East Terror Groups have hated us for decades, to use your own word, idiot. Countries who still see little use/respect for women, &most of there own men, planning children''s fates, purpose &marriages are set between families & leaders, before their even born. Get off the Internet where anyone can write anything & say its true, & head to your local library, find the history section of BOOKS, not the computer. You must have missed or failed history class in HS. I honor-rolled all through HS, & 8 years of College, did you? I am all for CHANGE, But one doesnt respect America, changes color like a chameleon, doesnt make me comfortable. Were you personally raised with him, lived every moment of his life, so you know every detail of his life? I think not. I want a president who loves this country, & wants to fix it, not the world, as the Clintons, and Bush failed to do. SO if you cant handle other peoples opinions with out resorting to acting like a 5th grader, you shouldnt read them. I dont trust the man. I dont trust any of them, no one has shown me what I want to see happen for the future of my family & country. But open, blatant DISRESPECT for my country, is NOT what I care to see in the White House.

[akona2]

%u201CWe will make it right in DAY 1%u201D said Barack HUSSEIN OBAMA.

DAY 1 of his life%u2026 he was created by his MUSLIM father.
DAY 1 of education%u2026 he was enrolled in a MUSLIM school.
DAY 1 of his puberty years%u2026 he is a crack HEROIN user.
DAY 1 of his Senator voting%u2026 he voted PRESENT and became a FLIPFLOPPER.
DAY 1 of his real estate business%u2026 he bought land from a slumlord.
DAY 1 of his campaign%u2026 he deny being a MUSLIM and became a LIAR.

ARE WE READY FOR THE NEXT MUSLIM PRESIDENT in DAY 1 after the elections?

[user168-2009]

Hillbilly Dumpty sat on a vole.
Hillbilly Dumpty had a great fall.
All the Maggie Williams "REMOVED FILES"
Couldn''''t put Hillbilly together again.

"If you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? What is there to fear?"

Hillary, what is that you SOOO worry about?

Hillary, I truly hope what you are worrying about are the men, women, and children being slaughtered, dying, and suffering in that on-going bloody war you eagerly supported.

"... How many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?..."

WHY MUST OTHERS DIE SO YOU SHOULD LIVE?

Hillary, to love means wanting it to live!

"HELL is This Thing called WAR!"

"ONLY THE DEAD HAVE SEEN THE END OF WAR." Not Hillary?

Oh where, oh where were my Hillary phony tears when I needed thou most???