Virginia Called for Sen. Obama

The polls in Virginia closed at 7 pm EST [0000 UTC] and FOX, CNN and MSNBC all called the state easily for Sen. Barack Obama. The FOX network said that Sen. Obama should receive 66 percent of the vote in Virginia, a victory that exceeded the poll numbers.

Sen. Obama won African-American voters (about 30 percent of the electorate) 90-10, and won a huge margin with white voters who called themselves independent. But Sen. Clinton won among white voters who called themselves Democrats by a 20 points. Overall, a smashing victory for the Illinois senator who split the white vote with Sen. Clinton.

On the Republican side, the race is too close to call as conservatives and evangelicals rushed to support former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee against the presumptive nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona. According to exit polls, Gov. Huckabee won self-identified Republicans by two points and independents by nine points.

Bottom line so far: great victory by Sen. Obama who seems to be inching closer to generating momentum that could be unstoppable. His vote totals among non-African American voters are becoming more impressive with each outing. Analysts say Virginia was the state where Sen. Clinton could have pulled an upset.

Sen. Obama also won in the District of Columbia, no surprise there.

For Sen. McCain, this has to be disheartening. An outright loss would not derail him from the nomination but would indicate some holes in his election strategy. He has to wrap up the voters that Gov. Huckabee is now getting in states like Virginia.

As one analyst wrote, "Can't McCain put this guy away?...Why is this guy winning?"

A judge kept the polls in Maryland open until 9:30 pm [0130 UTC] because of traffic and weather conditions in the state.