WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Business was brisk at polling places in Virginia and Maryland Tuesday where primaries could answer key questions in the Democratic and Republican nomination races.
Kristina Daugirclas, left, holds her son as Ella Black hands her a ballot Tuesday at a Washington elementary school.
The District of Columbia voters are also participating in the so-called "Potomac primaries" -- named for the river that separates Virginia and Maryland and flows past the nation's capital, Washington.
At stake in the primaries are 238 Democratic delegates and 119 total GOP delegates. Polls in Maryland and the District of Columbia close at 8 p.m. and in Virginia at 7 p.m.
In Maryland, turnout was anticipated to be about 40 percent, which is above normal according to Ross Goldstein, deputy administrator for the state's Board of Elections.
However, Goldstein said some anticipated inclement weather later in the day could lower turnout numbers.
Virginia election officials also predicted a higher than normal turnout of 30 to 40 percent for the state's primaries.
High turnout was reported in the northern part of the state and in Richmond and Charlottesville, according to Virginia Board of Elections spokeswoman Susan Pollard.
There were reports of 45-minute lines in counties around Richmond, she said.
Mark Coakley, the general register for Henrico County said the turnout in his Richmond-area county was record breaking.
"It's our first ever-dual primary so regardless it would be record breaking," he said.
At an Alexandria, Virginia, polling station, election officials said they were seeing a steady turnout.
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"We're getting good, consistent turnout. We started out with over 20 people at the gate when we opened up the doors at 6 a.m.," election official Chris Tatem said. "We're averaging maybe a hundred an hour of people that push through here, which is good."
At around 1 p.m. Tuesday, the polling station's precinct chief Tom Fina said, "We're almost at the same level as we were last year for the Virginia elections."
"Today with almost 700 votes before the day is much more than half over, we are running considerably ahead of the past experience that we've had," he said.
High winds swept through the state on Sunday and Monday knocking out power in some areas and forcing some polling stations to relocate. The storms knocked out power to 50 stations, election officials said, but power had been restored to all but eight of them. Generators were used to restore power at some locations.
District election officials did not respond to CNN's inquiries about voting turnout.
On the Democratic side, the key question is whether Sen. Barack Obama will be able to sustain the momentum he mustered in his sweep of five Democratic contests last weekend. Watch as Obama seems to be on a roll while Clinton regroups »
The demographics in Tuesday's primaries suggest the senator from Illinois could pull off a political hat trick over rival Sen. Hillary Clinton. However, the senator from New York said Obama's recent success doesn't faze her because future primaries will swing her way.
The devil is in the demographics for Democrats. Maryland, Virginia and especially the District of Columbia have large numbers of African-American and affluent white voters. Obama has fared well in the past with both groups. Watch as Clinton downplays Obama's recent victories »
Previous exit polls indicate Obama also has done well with independents voting in Democratic contests, and Virginia's open primary permits independents to cast ballots for either party.
In total delegates, Clinton tops Obama 1,157 to 1,145, according to CNN estimates. The breakdown paints a slightly different picture, as Obama leads 989 to 923 in pledged delegates, and Clinton is winning among superdelegates 234 to 156.
Superdelegates, a group of almost 800 Democratic Party officials and leaders, are not required to make their votes public and are free to change their minds.
In the Republican race, the question is whether Sen. John McCain can start to unify the Republican party behind his all-but-certain nomination.
McCain is leading the only other Republican candidate in the race, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, 723 to 217 in total delegates, according to CNN estimates. A GOP candidate needs 1,191 delegates to secure the nomination.
But Huckabee is coming off a big win Saturday in Kansas, where he won by double digits, and another narrower win in Louisiana.
McCain edged out Huckabee in the Washington caucuses, but Huckabee is questioning the result.
Huckabee has done well with Christian conservatives and rural voters, and McCain's performance last weekend suggests the GOP, particularly conservative voters, are not quite ready to unite behind him.
McCain, however, scoffed at the notion that the former Arkansas governor could close the over 500-delegate gap that separates the two GOP contenders.
"We are doing fine. We have 700 and some -- close to 800 delegates, and the last time I checked Gov. Huckabee has very few," McCain said.
"So I think I am pretty happy with the situation that we are in." He said Tuesday he was "guardedly optimistic" about the Potomac primaries. E-mail to a friend
CNN's Paul Steinhauser and Erik Tavcar contributed to this report.
All About Democratic Party • Republican Party
Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois and 2008 US presidential candidate has swept all three of today's Democratic contests in the "Potomac primaries" consisting of the nation's capital, Washington, D.C. and the bordering states of Virginia and Maryland. 

Obama led in the Virginia polls 67 percent, while in the District of Columbia, he lead 76 percent over opponent, New York senator Hillary Clinton's 24 percent. This sweep gives him a slight lead over Clinton in the delegate count. Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign lost an aide today, as campaign aide Mike Henry resigned making light of a small staffing crisis within the campaign as Clinton just replaced her campaign manager Patty Solis Doyle with Maggie Williams. Doyle remains with the campaign as a senior advisor.

Meanwhile, John McCain, the senator from Arizona and 2008 US presidential candidate has swept all three of today's Republican contests in the Potomac primaries. McCain obtained a slim margin of victory over opponent, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee in Virginia and had a lead over Huckabee by nine points in the District.