Obama wins Virginia in landslide; McCain wins harder fought victory

Virginia votes, and makes it exciting in the Commonwealth’s Presidential Primary.

Republicans chose Arizona Senator John McCain, but in a much closer race than the experts predicted.  Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee held a small lead until about 22% of all state precincts reported.  At that point, the returns kept showing McCain building a lead, then adding to it.

NBC News called the primary for McCain around 8:30 p.m.

Huckabee won most of Southwest Virginia.  The former governor campaigned in Lynchburg and Roanoke in the two days leading up to the primary, while McCain never campaigned in our area.

    In Roanoke County, Republican voters chose Huckabee by a nearly two to one margin over McCain.
    Bedford County and Franklin County Republican voters also overwhelmingly chose Huckabee.
    Montgomery County Republicans also chose Huckabee, but by a much narrower margin.

    You can read a full breakdown of the county and city Republican results here

    Maverick Republican Ron Paul won a little more than 4% of the Republican vote.
    Of those Republicans who dropped out of the race, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney took the most votes, with a little more than 3%.  Fred Thompson received about three-quarters of one percent, and Rudy Giuliani, a little more than one-third of one percent.

    On the Democratic side, Illinois Senator Barack Obama easily defeated Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, by a nearly two to one margin.

    Roanoke County bucked the Obama trend, with a little more than 1,000 Democrats there voting for Clinton.
    Bedford County, Botetourt County, Franklin County, Pulaski County, and Salem also voted slightly more for Hillary than Obama.
    Carroll County Democrats voted nearly three to one in favor of Clinton over Obama.
    Wythe County also voted two to one for Clinton.
    But in Montgomery County, about 1,000 more voted for Obama than Clinton.
    Henry County also went more for Obama by about 1,100.
    Lynchburg and Pittsylvania County Democrats chose Obama over Clinton by more than a two to one margin.
    Danville Democrats chose Obama by a nearly four to one margin over Clinton.
    Floyd County and Rockbridge County voters narrowly chose Obama over Clinton.
   
    You can read a full city and county Democratic breakdown here.

Expanded coverage from the Associated Press below:

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - John McCain won an unexpectedly narrow victory Tuesday over Mike Huckabee in the Virginia Republican presidential primary.
    Barack Obama, meanwhile, overwhelmed Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side, capturing nearly two-thirds of the vote in unofficial returns.
    Already with a 3-to-1 advantage in Republican convention delegates, McCain’s victory gave him 60 of the state’s 63 GOP convention delegates.
    With nearly all precincts reporting, McCain had 49 percent of the vote to 42 percent for Huckabee.
    Polls taken last week showed McCain with a double-digit lead over the former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister, but Huckabee drew extraordinary support in rural western Virginia, the state’s Bible belt.
    McCain, a Navy fighter pilot, pulled ahead on the strength of the vote in cities, in suburban northern Virginia and in most of Hampton Roads, home to the largest U.S. Navy base.
    Because the Democrats assign their delegates proportionally based on outcomes statewide and by congressional district, Obama needed an enormous victory margin to gain a major edge in delegates over Clinton.
    He overpowered Clinton in the state’s suburban, affluent and university communities and areas with strong black voting populations, but he was also winning in many lower-income, working class and rural areas where Clinton had expected to do well.
    Voters participated in numbers that blew away records for turnout, driven by interest in the Democratic field. Returns showed nearly twice as many votes in the Democratic primary as the Republican primary, an unusual development in a state where the GOP has won every presidential election for the past 40 years and Democratic nominating contests have been an afterthought with sparse participation.
    In Fairfax County and the Richmond suburb of Henrico County, some residents had to wait about 30 minutes to vote.
    Fred Berghoefer, secretary of the Arlington County electoral board, also reported lines of up to 30 minutes at some polling places.
    A total of 116 Republican convention delegates was at stake in the primaries held Tuesday in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., but Virginia’s total comprised more than half.
    The withdrawal last week of his closest rival, Mitt Romney, reduced the GOP field to two major candidates and made McCain the presumptive nominee.
    Huckabee appealed to Christian conservatives in Virginia, where he had the endorsement of Jerry Falwell Jr., the namesake son of the late television evangelist.
    After Romney’s departure, McCain consolidated support among the state’s best-known GOP figures, including former Sen. George Allen, former Gov. Jim Gilmore, Attorney General Bob McDonnell and former Attorney General Jerry Kilgore. Retiring Sen. John Warner endorsed McCain last year.
    Huckabee complained Monday that party insiders were trying to push him from the race and orchestrate a swift coronation for McCain.
    Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, campaigned nonstop across Virginia over the weekend, desperate for a victory to slow Obama’s momentum.
    She entered the week struggling to match Obama’s fundraising, reeling from weekend losses in four states and trailing Obama by 16 points in an independent statewide poll published Sunday.
    Obama and Clinton both campaigned heavily in the Democratic-leaning Washington, D.C., suburbs, and both had to skip Sunday stops in Roanoke because of howling winds that made flying hazardous and fanned devastating brushfires.