Wednesday, February 13, 2008

(Minutes before they were due to close, a judge ordered Maryland to keep their polls open for an extra 90 minutes because of weather, so I didn't learn the details of the results there—an Obama margin of 24 points—until I got home.) He beat her so handily in every demographic in both MD and VA it is hard to see how Senator Clinton can mount a viable comeback. She has lost her once solid base of support among women and older voters. The exit polling data in VA contains one shocker after another. Obama won 60% of women, 63% of those without post-secondary education, and 55% of Latino voters, all formerly reliable Clinton voters. To put it mildly, none of these groups were expected to vote for him. Obama has dramatically changed the dynamic of a race he was never supposed to win. He has done so not simply by winning 8 races in a row in the span of three days (most by 20+ and 30+ point margins), but because he has extended his appeal to every demographic. Even among white men in Virginia, he beat Clinton by 14% (so much for his race being an impediment to winning support from all ethnicities). He still does best with African Americans, and won the District of Columbia 75% to 24%. Calling that a landslide is obviously an overused metaphor and now, a gross understatement.

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