Early exit poll data in Maryland and Virginia

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Early exit poll data in MD, VA
By The Associated Press
2 hours, 21 minutes ago

Highlights of preliminary exit poll data in the Maryland and Virginia presidential primaries Tuesday:

READY TO MAKE HISTORY:

As they helped decide whether their party will nominate the first woman or first black for president, more than eight in 10 voters in the Maryland and Virginia Democratic primaries said the country is ready to elect a black or female president.

Democratic voters in Virginia were a little more likely than their counterparts in Maryland to say the country "definitely" was ready for a black or female president, rather than just "probably" ready.

Blacks in Virginia were a little less likely than whites there to say the country is ready to elect a female president.

DEMOGRAPHICS

Blacks made up more than a third of the Democratic electorate in Maryland, a little less than that in Virginia. In both states women outnumbered men in the Democratic contests. Men and women were pretty evenly divided in the Republican primaries in both states.

ISSUES

Voters in both parties in both states most often picked the economy as the most important issue facing the country. Democrats and Republicans had very different views about the condition of the national economy. Half of Virginia Republicans and 4 in 10 Maryland Republicans said the economy was still in good shape, while 9 in 10 Democrats in both states said the economy was in bad shape.

FIRST TIME VOTERS

Over a third of voters in the Virginia Democratic primary said they had not voted in a primary before, as did almost one in five voters in the Maryland Democratic primary.

From partial samples conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International in 30 precincts each in Maryland and Virginia for The Associated Press and television networks. Sample sizes: Maryland Democratic 790; Maryland Republican 439; Virginia Democratic 864; Virginia Republican 461.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080212/ap_on_el_pr/campaign_exit_poll_glance;_ylt=Asb3zQEF55jiHOGjIKF BusSWwvIE

CNN Headline : DEVELOPING STORY:Obama wins Virginia; McCain, Huckabee locked in tight race.

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Obama easily bests Clinton in Va.
BY DAVID LERMAN
7:38 PM EST, February 12, 2008

Sen. Barack Obama easily won Virginia's Democratic primary Tuesday, defeating Sen. Hillary Clinton by a wide margin, according to projections from exit polls.

Building on his string of victories from last week's contests, Obama was expected to sweep the so-called Potomac Primaries of Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

But the Virginia contest was the biggest battleground of the night, offering the most delegates in what has been a neck-and-neck fight for the party nomination. Clinton had focused her energies on the state, hoping to stage an upset by rallying women, rural voters, Latinos and government workers.

Those efforts, however, proved no match for Obama, whose star power drew thousands of supporters to rallies in Hampton Roads, Richmond and Northern Virginia.

The Illinois senator, who would become the nation's first African-American presidential nominee, has been particularly popular among African-Americans, independents, upper-income Democrats and young voters. Many of those voters who have been energized by Obama's message of change and his desire to create what he calls ``a new kind of politics" that he claims would unite the country.

However impressive the victory, it came as little surprise to the Clinton campaign, which had been downplaying expectations in recent days. Clinton aides have acknowledged the possibility that the New York senator may not win a significant contest for the rest of this month. They are focusing their efforts on the March 4 primaries, which include the big states of Ohio and Texas.

While Clinton began as the better-known candidate and had a significant network of grassroots organizers in Virginia, Obama devoted more resources to the state. He began airing television ads more than a week ago, while Clinton began Friday.

On the campaign trail in Virginia, Clinton had sought to cast herself as the more experienced candidate who would be better equipped to take on Republicans this fall. ``I have been through enough of these elections to understand what it's going to take to win," she said.

But Obama argued that he would be a less polarizing candidate who could attract more of the independent voters needed to win in November. ``I think it's very hard for Senator Clinton to break out of the politics of the last 15 years," Obama said.

That argument carried more weight with Virginia Democratic leaders, who calculated that Obama is the better Democrat to carry a conservative ``red" state that hasn't backed a Democrat for president since the Lyndon Johnson landslide of 1964.

``Virginians are practical," said Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, an early Obama supporter who serves as a national co-chairman of the campaign. ``We're anxious to be relevant in presidential politics again. I just believe very strongly that Senator Obama is our most electable candidate in November."

Many Democrats in recent weeks said they were excited about their candidates and energized by the chance to take back the White House after eight years of Republican rule. But many also said they were torn about the choice they confronted Tuesday: whether to help nominate either the first African-American or the first female presidential contender.

``It's tough because I'm both minorities," said May Wade, an African-American woman who voted in Hampton. In the end, Wade said, she decided on Clinton.

``I just like her as a whole," she said. ``I feel she would be a much better president overall."

But Lee Winslett of Smithfield sided with most voters in backing Obama.

``I think he's the right candidate for this time," Winslett said. ``I think that we do need real change. I think he embraces that."

Herbert Edwards, voting for Obama in Isle of Wight County, added, ``We need a fresh voice. He can bring something different. I'm praying. I believe he has the potential."

http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-now-vademocrats_0212,0,6831845.story

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Virginia Totals
Democrats
Obama (W) 61%
Clinton 38%

Republicans
McCain 47%
Huckabee 45%
Paul 4%


» 42% of precincts reporting

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The Obama infatuation
Feb 6, 2008 2:00 AM
by Cal Thomas, The Examiner

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - In human relationships, there is the flirtation stage, followed by what my grandparents called “courting� and, if that works out, marriage.

In presidential politics, the analogy also works. We have passed the flirtation stage with Barack Obama, and now it is time for a serious background check before too many of us follow our hearts instead of our heads and enter into a bad “marriage.�

That MoveOn.org and Sen. Edward Kennedy have endorsed Obama ought to be enough for any conservative — even moderate — to pause before heading toward the electoral altar. But Obama has offered more cause for alarm by heralding his left-wing economic philosophy in a recent interview with The New York Times.

Obama told the newspaper the top priority of the next president should be the creation of a more lasting and equitable prosperity than achieved under Presidents Bush and Clinton. Obama apparently missed the class that teaches government doesn’t create prosperity; people do.

One reason this socialistic mind-set resonates favorably with many is due to the shift in the last half-century from promoting hard work, self-sufficiency, marriage, accountability, and living within one’s means to a mentality that I am entitled to the fruits of other people’s labor.

Calvin Coolidge, who spoke when he had something to say, cautioned, “The collection of any taxes which are not absolutely required, which do not beyond reasonable doubt contribute to the public welfare, is only a species of legalized larceny. ... The wise and correct course to follow in taxation is not to destroy those who have already secured success but to create conditions under which every one will have a better chance to be more successful.�

Given such truths, it is time to break up with our Obama infatuation.

http://www.examiner.com/a-1203700~Cal_Thomas__The_Obama_infatuation.html



Clinton ? Obama?
What I considered before I voted
Tue Feb 12, 12:15 AM ET
By DeWayne Wickham

CATONSVILLE, Md. — I voted. I made my choice between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the two leading contenders for the Democrats' presidential nomination, on Friday, four days before today's primary election here in Maryland.

Like many of my journalism colleagues, I'm too busy reporting on election day to vote, so I cast an absentee ballot. Usually, I have it mailed to my house, but this time I decided to go to the local election office to vote early.

Finding the county election board's headquarters wasn't easy. It's on the third floor of an old red-brick school building tucked along a narrow side street that peels unobtrusively off a busy commercial strip. But deciding which of the two leading contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination I'd vote for proved to be a lot tougher task.

Unlike most people confronted with this choice, I've had several face-to-face talks with Clinton and Obama. I've stood nearby when they've given speeches and had lengthy phone conversations with each of them.

Vote as private citizen

As a columnist, I've tried over the past six months to give my readers a look — through my mind's eye — at the Democratic and Republican candidates in this year's still-unfolding presidential campaign. But when I sat down to fill out my absentee ballot, I stopped being a journalist and took on the most important role of citizenship.

There is much that I like about Obama and Clinton that factored into my voting decision in this presidential primary, just as there is something I admire about Arizona Sen. John McCain — who appears to be a shoo-in for the Republican nomination — that I will weigh in my voting decision in the November general election.

I've listened closely as Clinton has talked about the importance of her experience.

"The next president will find waiting on the desk in the Oval Office two wars; one to end, one to try to salvage," she told me last month, referring to the war in Iraq that Democrats want to end, and the war on terror that they think should be pursued more aggressively. "

"Violence and instability from Africa to Pakistan, a much-emboldened position by Russia and China vis-Ã* -vis the United States, a deteriorating situation in the (Persian) Gulf region and the Middle East, a turning away from democracy in Latin America" are all problems the next president must deal with, she said.

Two keen voices

That got my attention, as did what Obama told me last July about what he thinks it'll take to overcome taxpayer resistance to a much-needed new war on poverty.

"You can't solve the problem of poverty if you're not speaking to the larger anxieties that working people and middle-class families feel as well," he said. A new war on poverty has to be framed "in the context of universal health care for everybody" and "in the context of boosting retirement security for everybody."

And then he added: "The more we can say we're going to fight on behalf of all working Americans and we're going to do stuff for those who need the most help, that's an argument we can win."

I thought of all this — and a lot more of what I've heard from them — as I filled out my absentee ballot.

In truth, this election is less about which candidate can usher in "change," or who has the most "experience," than it is about the very survival of our nation. While George W. Bush clamors about the need to spread democracy abroad, his deficit-ridden government is being propped up by Communist China, a major underwriter of American debt.

The exodus abroad of first manufacturing and now service-sector jobs is gutting this nation's economy. And Bush's military adventurism and saber rattling have turned world opinion against us.

It was with all this in mind that I did what every American is duty-bound to do in these troubled times: I voted my choice for the next president of the United States.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20080212/cm_usatoday/clintonorobamawhaticonsideredbeforeivoted;_ylt=Au1 ICOOtBg_s.YyijdPZQZ6s0NUE