Hopefuls Stump For "Potomac Primary" Votes

Presidential candidates of both parties campaigned across the Mid-Atlantic states of Virginia and Maryland on Monday, the final day of campaigning before the two states and the District of Columbia vote in the so-called Potomac Primary.

In the Democratic race, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama was optimistic that he would win all three contests and continue the unbroken string of victories he's enjoyed since he and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton fought to a draw on Super Tuesday.

Polls show Obama running strong in both Virginia and Maryland, and he is heavily favored in the District, where African-Americans and affluent, educated white voters comprise most of the electorate.

Republican John McCain is hoping to further his grip on the party's nomination, though Mike Huckabee has continued to campaign and his hoping for a surprise win in Virginia to keep his hopes alive after upsetting McCain in Kansas and Louisiana.

"We're doing fine. We're doing fine," McCain told reporters in Annapolis, dismissing the notion that losses in two states on Saturday had hurt his campaign. He won narrowly in Washington state.

The Arizona senator 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.)

"We have close to 800 delegates. Last time I checked, Governor Huckabee had very few, so I think I'm happy with the situation I'm in," McCain said. "I'm quite pleased, recognizing that we have a lot of work to do."

McCain's campaign was further bolstered today by an endorsement from leading conservative voice Gary Bauer, former head of the Family Research Council and founder of the Campaign for Working Families. McCain's emphasis since last week, when chief rival Mitt Romney exited the race, has been on reaching out to conservative critics in an effort to unite the party.

Bauer was the latest of several conservatives to sign on, but McCain still faces outspoken opposition from some foes, including talk radio host Rush Limbaugh who had threatened to boycott a race in which McCain is the nominee. Some on the party's right flank distrust McCain's moderate positions on some issues and his willingness to work with Democrats in Congress.

"There's passions on both sides this year, but I would point this out to my friends in the Republican Party," Bauer said Monday on MSNBC. "With all the passions in the Democratic Party and the battle there, I don't see Hillary Clinton supporters saying, 'I'll never vote for Obama."'

"At the end of the day, they're going to be united. And I believe if I can work with Senator McCain to make him the best conservative candidate possible, that's a good thing," Bauer said.

Huckabee, too, is known for opposing abortion rights. In Annapolis, McCain chuckled at a question about why people persist in voting for Huckabee despite McCain's lock on the nomination.

"Because they like him," McCain said. "I never expected a unanimous vote, although I would certainly like to have that. But I think we'll continue to win primaries across the country, including tomorrow.

"I hope that we'll do well here. I have great confidence that we will, both here and in Virginia and in the District of Columbia," McCain said.

While the race for the Democratic nomination, overall, is close, Obama appears likely to come out of Tuesday's voting with an expanded lead over Clinton the delegate race. According to CBS affiliate WTVR in Richmond, Va., a SurveyUSA poll gives Obama a 22 percentage point lead in that state, with 60 percent support compared to 38 percent for Clinton.

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.)

Campaigning in White Marsh, Md., Clinton denied her campaign was in trouble, even though she replaced her campaign manager Sunday.

"I'm still ahead in the popular vote and in delegates," Clinton said.

Speaking to reporters after touring a General Motors plant outside Baltimore, Clinton said she feels very good about the state of the race, even though she is not expected to win between now and March 4, when voters in Texas and Ohio cast ballots.

"We had a great night on Super Tuesday," Clinton said, referring to the 22 states that voted Feb. 5. Clinton won eight states to Obama's 13 but scored in many of the biggest contests including New York, California, Massachusetts and New Jersey. And they divided the delegates almost evenly.

"I believe if you look at the states ... upcoming, I am very confident."

The former first lady said the decision by Patti Solis Doyle to step down as campaign manager was personal and reflected the toll of the long campaign, not a problem with her job performance.

"I have the greatest respect and affection for her," Clinton said. "I'm grateful for the enormously successful job that she's done."

She noted that the states she won on Super Tuesday were all states Democrats must win to succeed in the general election. Many of the states Obama won that night, such as Alaska and North Dakota, would not be competitive for Democrats next November, she said.

The New York senator also dismissed concern that Obama had all the momentum going into the next round of contests. After Tuesday's contests, he is favored next week in Wisconsin and Hawaii.

"Before Super Tuesday you all were reporting on all the momentum. It didn't turn out to be true," she said. "Let's have the elections. Instead of talking about them, pontificating and punditing, let's let people actually vote."

Obama, speaking in College Park, Md., Monday, said 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.

Citing the Iraq war, global warming and economic worries, Obama told more than 15,000 people at the University of Maryland that he decided to run for president soon after entering the Senate because "I was convinced that the size of these challenges had outstripped the capacity of a broken and divided politics to solve."

The nation, he said, "wanted a politics that wasn't about tearing the country down, but was about lifting the country up."

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

"I may be skinny, but I'm tough, too," he said, drawing loud cheers.

Clinton's campaign is hoping to stem Obama's momentum in primaries in Ohio and Texas, which join Vermont and Rhode Island in voting March 4. Clinton has performed well in primaries in large states so far.

However, Obama's campaign announced Monday it is starting television advertising throughout Texas and Ohio, airing an ad that features Obama discussing the death of his mother at age 53 from cancer and the cost of health care. The ads will begin airing on English language broadcast stations Tuesday, and plans are underway for Spanish-language ads.

Typically it costs $1 million per week in Texas to wage a statewide political advertising campaign that saturates the approximately two-dozen TV markets. Obama raised $32 million in January to Clinton's $13.5 million, and the former first lady said last week she had lent her campaign $5 million.

Clinton also is vying with Obama for the endorsement of former candidate John Edwards. Clinton quietly visited Edwards last Thursday in North Carolina, but Obama decided not to do the same on Monday.