The defection came as Obama began to peel away sections of Clinton’s supporting coalition among working-class households, women, Catholics, and older voters, to win primaries in Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC by overwhelming margins on Tuesday night.
In Virginia, Obama demonstrated once again than he is more popular than Clinton among white male voters. Clinton’s strategist, Mark Penn, said, “Winning Democratic primaries is not a qualification for who can win the general election.” However, her field director, Guy Cecil, said the campaign was looking even further ahead to Pennsylvania, which votes on April 22. Offices in a string of small states from Kentucky to Puerto Rico are being set up.
