Lessons Learned from Potomac Primary

WASHINGTON — Six lessons learned on a Tuesday when voters closest to the nation's seat of government cast ballots in primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia:

Front-runners: Both parties now have them. The Tuesday sweeps by Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain had them talking like nominees, focusing their after-the-polls-closed remarks on the November general election. Hillary Clinton, in El Paso and looking forward to Texas' March 4 primary, also talked about November. But her remarks, isolated from the reality of that was an exceedingly bad day for her, sounded a bit detached from her task at hand as Obama builds enthusiasm.

The Obama coalition is expanding: He made significant inroads among constituencies once claimed by Clinton, including the elderly, women, white and Latino voters, who have sided with her in past contests. In Virginia and Maryland, Obama won virtually every demographic group in building wide margins of victories.

Texas shootout: Clinton has chosen to make her stand in the Lone Star State when it votes March 4. She canceled a scheduled Washington area appearance in favor of attending an El Paso rally where she made no mention of Tuesday's results. She said she is going to "sweep across Texas" in the next three weeks, concentrating on Latino voters in a state she got to know in 1972 when she and her husband worked on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern.

McCain's problems: Bringing GOP conservatives on board remains a work in progress for the apparent nominee. Sixty-eight percent of Virginia GOP voters identified themselves as conservative. Only 35 percent of them backed McCain, with 51 percent siding with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. A third of Virginia voters called themselves "very conservative." Only 23 percent backed McCain. The numbers were better for McCain in Maryland, where he defeated Huckabee by two points among the 21 percent of GOP voters who called themselves conservative.

McCain's positives: Republicans, even those who didn't back him, seem to be getting comfortable with the notion that he will be their November candidate. In Virginia, 75 percent said they'd be "satisfied" if McCain is the nominee. In Maryland, it was 76 percent.

D.C. is a Democratic town: Here are some numbers that help explain why Republicans generally oppose allowing people in the nation's capital to have voting representation in the nation's capitol. With 98 percent of the D.C. precincts reporting, a total of 102,257 votes had been cast in the Democratic primary compared to 5,711 in the GOP contest.