Obama, McCain sweep in Potomac primaries

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama -- the old guard and the new, the right and the left -- Tuesday swept the so-called Potomac presidential primaries.

McCain, the Arizona Republican war hero considered not conservative by some, bested former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. Obama, the Illinois Democrat "change-agent" who has had the torch passed to him by the Kennedy family and backed by Oprah Winfrey, did the same to Hillary Clinton, the New York senator whose former president husband has been both a help and a hindrance in the campaign so far.

In the delegate race, McCain has 812 of the 1,191 needed to win the GOP nomination, while Huckabee has 217. Obama has 1,208 delegates to Clinton's 1,185; 2,025 are needed to win the Democratic nomination.

Obama was in front of an arena full of supporters in Madison, Wis., when he claimed victory and said, "You have lifted my spirits."

"This movement won't stop until there's change in Washington, D.C., and today we're on our way," Obama said. "The cynics can no longer say our hopes are false. We have given young people a reason to believe and brought the young at heart back to the polls who want to believe again."

In Alexandria, Va., McCain panned the Democrats for "placating our implacable foes and breaking faith with our allies."

"We believe that Americans, not our detractors and certainly not our enemies, are on the right side of history," he said.