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(CBS) From CBS News' Fernando Suarez:
On primary day in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., Hillary Clinton will make last-minute visits to polling places, hoping news coverage of her stops will trigger undecided voters to turn out.
As is custom on election days, while Clinton makes visits to strategic locations in the area, her senior staff sits in what they call the boiler room to await results and to get information from staff on the ground at polling locations. This information will dictate part of Clintons schedule this morning. She will oftentimes make phone calls into local radio shows or stand on street corners with supporters if her advisors think shes in a close contest in a particular area.
However, despite her efforts today, a source close to the campaign is downplaying expectations, telling CBS News that we will lose all three (contests) today, probably by wide margins.
We are still actively working them because we feel like there are opportunities to pick up delegates," the source said, pointing out that since delegates are allocated proportionally, she can still pick up delegates even if she loses statewide.
"There are several districts in Virginia, for example, that we have targeted because they have odd number delegates and we think we have some opportunities to pick up the one. So, while we expect to lose were focused on the delegate math.
Another reason why todays contests will prove difficult for Clinton, particularly in Maryland and D.C., is because of the large African-American population, a group that has been voting for Obama in large numbers.
On the other hand, Clintons strongest minority support comes from Hispanic voters, a group that helped her win in states like California and Arizona.
Because of her strength with Hispanics, she will head to Texas later this afternoon with stops at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Clinton is expected to campaign in one of the the nation's most southern cities, near the Mexican border, tomorrow morning.
Her campaign is calling Texas the big one referring to the large number of delegates at stake there on Mar. 4.
Clinton will start campaigning hard in Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to the campaign source,
Weve made it pretty clear all along that Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania were going to be important states for us and states where we think well do well. On primary day in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., Hillary Clinton will make last-minute visits to polling places, hoping news coverage of her stops will trigger undecided voters to turn out.As is custom on election days, while Clinton makes visits to strategic locations in the area, her senior staff sits in what they call the boiler room to await results and to get information from staff on the ground at polling locations. This information will dictate part of Clintons schedule this morning. She will oftentimes make phone calls into local radio shows or stand on street corners with supporters if her advisors think shes in a close contest in a particular area.However, despite her efforts today, a source close to the campaign is downplaying expectations, telling CBS News that we will lose all three (contests) today, probably by wide margins.We are still actively working them because we feel like there are opportunities to pick up delegates," the source said, pointing out that since delegates are allocated proportionally, she can still pick up delegates even if she loses statewide."There are several districts in Virginia, for example, that we have targeted because they have odd number delegates and we think we have some opportunities to pick up the one. So, while we expect to lose were focused on the delegate math.Another reason why todays contests will prove difficult for Clinton, particularly in Maryland and D.C., is because of the large African-American population, a group that has been voting for Obama in large numbers.On the other hand, Clintons strongest minority support comes from Hispanic voters, a group that helped her win in states like California and Arizona.Because of her strength with Hispanics, she will head to Texas later this afternoon with stops at the University of Texas at El Paso.Clinton is expected to campaign in one of the the nation's most southern cities, near the Mexican border, tomorrow morning.Her campaign is calling Texas the big one referring to the large number of delegates at stake there on Mar. 4.Clinton will start campaigning hard in Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to the campaign source,Weve made it pretty clear all along that Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania were going to be important states for us and states where we think well do well.
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Romney Returns To The Fray
Am gestrigen Dienstag sollten in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika drei weitere Vorwahlen bezüglich der Präsidentenwahl 2008 stattfinden. Dabei sollte in den Staaten Virginia, Maryland und in der Hauptstadt Washington gewählt werden.

Diese drei Wahlen werden in den USA oft zusammenfassend als „Potomac primaries“ bezeichnet, in Anspielung an den Potomac-Fluss, der alle drei Gebiete durchfließt.

In Virginia sah es dabei aus demokratischer Sicht so aus, als hätte Barack Obama die besseren Chancen auf einen Triumph. So lag er in den Umfragen der letzten Tage stets cirka 15 Prozent vor seiner innerparteilichen Konkurrentin Hillary Clinton. Deren Wahlkampfteam bemühte sich bereits im Vorfeld, diese Situation zu relativieren. So wird Howard Wolfson, Kommunikations-Chef von Clintons Wahlkampfteam, in der ''Los Angeles Times'' zitiert, Virginia sei „ein Staat … unter anderen, wo Senator Obama Vorteile“ habe. Dies habe man schon lange einkalkuliert. Auffallend ist jedoch insbesondere in Virginia, welch große Gewinne Obama in den letzten Monaten in einigen Teilen des Landes erzielen konnte - letztes Jahr war es noch Clinton, die zweistellig führte.

Obama, der bereits am Wochenende vier Vorwahlen in Maine, Lousiana, Nebraska und Washington (hier ist der Bundesstaat Washington im Westen des Landes gemeint, heute wird in der gleichnamigen Hauptstadt im Osten gewählt) gewann, wurde auch in den anderen Wahlen heute favorisiert.

So auch in Maryland, wo es um 99 demokratische Parteidelegierte geht (im Gegensatz zu 101 in Virginia). Dort wird eine äußerst hohe Wahlbeteiligung erwartet, diese könnte sogar 40 Prozent übersteigen. Bei den Präsidentenwahlen 2000 lag sie noch bei 35 Prozent, 2004 gar nur bei 27 Prozent. Gründe dafür werden in dem erhöhten Medieninteresse gesehen, das wiederum durch das enge Rennen von Clinton und Obama gestützt wird. Aber auch gute Wetterbedingungen dürften eine Rolle spielen.
 
Aufgrund der eher schlechten Aussichten Clintons bei diesen Wahlen sehen Beobachter ihr Interesse schon bei den Wahlen in Texas, Ohio und Pennsylvania. So sagte Clinton laut bbc.co.uk, sie sei bezüglich Ohio und Texas sehr zuversichtlich, da sie wisse, dass diese Staaten einen breiten Wählerkreis repräsentierten.

Dagegen betonte zum Beispiel Jonathan Chait von der Polit-Zeitschrift „The New Republic“, die als Organ der linksgerichteten Intellektuellen gilt, selbst wenn Clinton in all diesen drei Staaten die Wahlen gewinne, werde es ihr trotzdem nicht gelingen, die Gewinne, die Obama bis dahin gemacht haben werde, aufzuholen.

Auf Seiten der Republikaner, die morgen wählen werden, wurde erwartet, dass John McCain alle drei Wahlen gewinnen kann. Als ein ernstzunehmender anderer Kandidat gilt in dieser Hinsicht noch der sehr konservative Mike Huckabee, der zuletzt Vorwahlen in Kansas und Louisiana gewinnen konnte, was seiner Kampagne nach Niederlagen gegen McCain in anderen Staaten wieder einen Schub geben konnte.