Virginia next Dem battleground

Strategists in both campaigns had once regarded Obama, D-Ill, as well-positioned to sweep Virginia, Maryland and Washington in next week’s first-ever regional primary. All three jurisdictions are rich in the African-American, upper-income and independent voters who have sustained his campaign.

But advisers to Clinton, D-N.Y., are now mapping out a strategy that does not exclude Maryland and Washington but focuses heavily on fast-growing outer suburbs such as Prince William and Loudoun counties in Northern Virginia and the state’s economically struggling rural southwest, where unemployment is high among white working-class voters.

Clinton, who is scheduled to meet students at Washington-Lee High School in Arlington County on Thursday afternoon, said she is moving “full speed ahead” into the Washington region. Her appearance is part of increasingly frenetic campaigning by candidates in both parties in the area, where the first significant wave of votes since the inconclusive Super Tuesday primaries will be cast.

But it is Virginia that is expected to be the most heavily contested turf over the next six days in what has been variously dubbed the Potomac, Chesapeake or Beltway primary.

Clinton and Obama enter the state all but deadlocked after Tuesday’s contests in 22 states. Both sides are preparing for a weeks-long slog in which virtually every delegate takes on huge significance.

Each campaign boasts strong ties to the state’s leading Democrats. Obama is backed by Gov. Timothy Kaine and Rep. Robert Scott, D-Va., the state’s only black congressman.

Clinton’s deputy campaign manager, Mike Henry, directed Kaine’s 2005 campaign, which relied in part on winning Prince William and Loudoun. Mo Elleithee, a communications specialist, and Matt Felan, a finance official, who have extensive Virginia roots, are working on her state strategy. Mame Reilly of Alexandria, a confidante of former governor Mark Warner and the head of a Democratic National Committee caucus on women, is one of her most prominent supporters in the state.

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