Obama aims to keep his wining momentum

Democrat presidential hopeful Barack Obama was today hoping to be on a victory roll and win primaries in Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC.

Meanwhile rival Hillary Clinton denied her campaign was in trouble after a string of defeats and her campaign manager’s departure.

On the Republican side, John McCain hoped to rebound with three wins today en route to his likely nomination after embarrassing losses to Mike Huckabee in weekend contests.

Mr McCain lost in Kansas and Louisiana, but managed a narrow win in Washington state caucuses that Mr Huckabee is now challenging.

Mr Obama seemed to be coasting into today’s primaries after he overwhelmingly won the weekend contests in Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington state, Maine and the Virgin Islands.

He was favourite to win today’s trio of primaries thanks to higher numbers of black and better educated voters, groups that have backed him in earlier primaries.

Polls showed he had double-digit leads in both Maryland and Virginia. He is hoping for big wins in the so-called Potomac primaries – named after the river touching all three localities – to erase Ms Clinton’s slim delegate lead for an edge in a contest that could stretch to the Democrats’ national convention in August.

With the Clinton campaign all but conceding losses today, as well as in other primaries during February, Ms Clinton prepared to fly to Texas, which holds its primary on March 4. She is banking on strong showings in Texas and in Ohio, which votes the same day, to blunt Mr Obama’s momentum.

Ms Clinton generally has done well in larger states. She looks to draw support from the large numbers of Latinos in Texas and lower-income, working-class voters in Ohio.

Despite what the poll numbers suggest, Ms Clinton’s strategists argued that she would be the stronger competitor against Mr McCain because she has weathered Republican attacks throughout her career in politics and public service.

Yesterday she denied that her campaign was in trouble after the string of losses and her campaign manager’s departure.

“I’m still ahead in the popular vote and in delegates,” she said.

Ms Clinton, who is seeking to be the first woman US president, said the decision by Patti Solis Doyle to step down as campaign manager was personal and reflected the toll of the long campaign, not a problem with her job performance.

In the Republican race, Mr McCain challenged the notion that he is too much of a maverick for Republican conservatives.

“We’re doing fine. We’re doing fine,” he insisted.