photo courtesy troblog

Last night, both Barack Obama and John McCain built on their already powerful momentum by each sweeping the primary contests in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.  For Obama, the victories marked his string of eight primary victories in a row. He now leads Hillary Clinton in the overall delegate count, with his 1,147 delegates comparing to Clinton’s 1,124. It should be noted, though, that Clinton still has an advantage in the superdelegate race–and with a contest this close, it may only take one superdelegate changing his or her mind to shift things entirely. That being said, Obama deserves to be thrilled with his Tuesday victories. He has an unbelievable head of steam going into the March 4 primaries that include powerhouse states Ohio and Texas, cemented by the about-to-be-announced endorsement from Bill Clinton’s former national manager, David Wilhelm, who is also a superdelegate.

For McCain, the victories mark a continuation of his front-runner status in a contest that appears increasingly to be his to lose. He currently has 790 delegates out of the 1,191 needed for a Republican victory.