(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-02-13 08:17

WASHINGTON - Sen. Barack Obama won the Virginia Democratic primary in a rout Tuesday night and reached out for victories in next-door Maryland and the District of Columbia in a drive to erase Hillary Rodham Clinton's delegate lead in the party's presidential race.

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., center, accompanied by Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty, and others, greets commuters during a get out the vote at the Eastern Market Metro Station in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008. [Agencies]

Obama's Virginia triumph made it six straight over Clinton, the former first lady, now struggling in a race she once commanded.

His victory left him a scant 10 delegates short of his rival, with 132 left to allocate for the night.

The Illinois senator was gaining more than 60 percent of the vote, and Clinton, senator from New York, less than 40 percent.

Republican front-runner John McCain survived an unexpectedly difficult challenge of his own in Virginia before triumphing over former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in a race that triggered a heavy turnout of evangelical Christian voters. McCain picked up all 60 of the GOP delegates at stake, adding to his insurmountable lead for the nomination.

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Interviews with Virginia voters leaving the polls showed Obama split the white vote with Clinton, and his share of the black vote approached 90 percent. She led among white women, but he was preferred by a majority of white men.

Icy roads in Maryland prompted a judge to order a 90-minute extension in voting hours, delaying returns and the allocation of delegates there.

In all, there were 168 delegates at stake in primaries in those states and the District of Columbia.

Overall, Clinton had 1,164 delegates to 1,154 for Obama. Both are far from the 2,025 needed to win the nomination at the Democratic National Convention this summer.

In Virginia, four in 10 Republican voters — twice as many as in a 2000 primary — said they were born again or evangelical Christians, and roughly 70 percent of them supported Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister.

Virginia voters could vote in either primary in their state. In a twist, Huckabee was running slightly ahead of McCain among independents, who cast about a fifth of the Republican votes there.

There were 113 delegates at stake in the three GOP races.

The AP count showed McCain with 789 delegates. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who dropped out of the race last week, had 288. Huckabee had 241 and Texas Rep. Ron Paul had 14.

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