WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama might keep calling himself the underdog. But from now on, that dog won't hunt.
His smashing victories in three Mid-Atlantic primaries yesterday will likely be seen as a turning point in the 2008 presidential contest.
Obama came roaring out of Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia with a new lode of delegates, taking the lead for the first time over Hillary Clinton, who once seemed all but unbeatable.
The latest results confirmed that Obama has continued to broaden and deepen his coalition, and he is now cutting into the heart of Clinton's base of support. Yesterday, for the first time, he pulled ahead of Clinton in delegates, according to an Associated Press tally.
John McCain, the likely Republican nominee, tipped his hat to the new Democratic front-runner last night.
"My friends, I promise you, I am fired up and ready to go," he told supporters, quoting Obama's campaign slogan on a night when McCain took the Maryland and District of Columbia primaries and dodged a potentially embarrassing loss to Mike Huckabee in Virginia.
Obama ran his winning streak to eight contests in a row, building impressive margins on both sides of the Potomac and winning a group that Clinton had owned - women voters. He won almost three in five women voters in Maryland and Virginia.
Obama also carried white men in both states, according to an Election Day survey of voters as they left polling places.
He lost the overall white vote in Maryland by a margin of 52 percent to 42 percent, one of his better performances among white voters this year. But in Virginia, a state that combines elements of the old South with a generous helping of suburban liberalism, he won 50 percent of the white vote, according to the exit poll.
The Illinois senator took a slice from the center of Clinton's coalition, peeling away supporters that her top strategist, Mark Penn, had described only the day before as her "core" voters: the working class, women and Roman Catholics.
Yesterday's contests were the latest twist on what could be a long road to the national convention in Denver in August. But there were few encouraging signs for Clinton, whose campaign shake-up continued with the departure of deputy manager Mike Henry.
Among the rare bright spots for Clinton: White voters who described themselves as Democrats, as opposed to independents or Republicans, favored her in both Maryland and Virginia, but they made up less than half the primary vote in each state. She carried white women and all white voters 45 and older in Maryland.
