Obama favored in Potomac primaries
CAMPAIGN '08
But don't count Clinton out just yet. Her campaign sees an opportunity to win some delegates Tuesday in Virginia.
ARLINGTON, VA. — A new battleground looms in a state where picnickers still flock to venerated fields of Confederate glory. The campaigns of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are gearing up for Tuesday's presidential primary in Virginia, a key Southern state rife with knotty demographics and shifting party loyalties.
Both camps view the Democratic vote in Virginia as their toughest matchup in the so-called Potomac primaries, a stretch of contests that also includes Maryland and the District of Columbia, where large and passionate constituencies among black voters and college students make Obama a heavy favorite.
Clinton aides have tried to dampen expectations, publicly stoking the prospect of an Obama sweep. But strategic moves by both sides in recent days indicate that Virginia is positioned as Clinton's likeliest target of opportunity Tuesday.
Howard Wolfson, the Clinton campaign's communications director, said that Virginia "is a state along with Maryland and others in February where Sen. Obama has significant advantages. We have long factored that reality into our planning."
Two Virginia polls out Friday lent credence to Wolfson's caution. An InsiderAdvantage survey showed Obama with a 15-point edge, at 52% of the Democratic vote to Clinton's 37%. A SurveyUSA poll gave Obama 59% to Clinton's 37%. Both polls showed a marked deterioration for Clinton, who held double-digit leads in 2007 surveys.
Despite those bleak signs, the Clinton camp has quietly mobilized to exploit "some unique opportunities," said Mo Elleithee, a national Clinton spokesman who was brought in to work on Virginia strategy. Even if Obama captures the popular vote in Virginia, Clinton aides say, they hope to carve off some delegates, who are all chosen proportionately.
Rebounding with a surge of donations after Clinton lent $5 million to her own treasury to make up for funding shortfalls, the New York senator's campaign began ramping up media ads Friday on Virginia television stations.
Stressing her focus on the shaky national economy, the ads were a late comeback to Obama's media blitz, which has dominated local airwaves since the middle of last week. And two days before her commercials even began running, Clinton's automated "robo-calls" were peppering Democratic households in northern Virginia, also echoing her economic emphasis.
