Candidates Make Final Pitches for 'Potomac Primaries'

It's good to see you both. Thank you for being here.

LINDA DOUGLASS, National Journal: Thanks, Judy.

PAUL WEST, Washington bureau chief, Baltimore Sun: Thanks.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Let's talk about the Republicans first. Now, John McCain may be ahead in delegates, but Mike Huckabee keeps winning these primaries and caucuses.

Linda, what's going on?

LINDA DOUGLASS: Well, I mean, it really does underscore the problem that he has with the Republican base of social conservatives who simply aren't happy with him.

I mean, it's not as though Huckabee is likely to get the nomination. It's almost become numerically impossible for him to do that.

But there hasn't been a Republican candidate who's gone forward to get the nomination and do well without the support of the Republican base, so it really does underscore what kinds of problems he has.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So has the media and everybody else sort of anointed McCain too early, Paul?

PAUL WEST: Well, I don't think so. McCain mathematically is going to be the nominee.

The problem is he's got this fly buzzing around his face in Mike Huckabee. And if Huckabee wins another primary, like tomorrow in Virginia, he becomes a junkyard dog and he becomes a real problem for McCain.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So what happens from here on? I mean, do people think Huckabee is going after the vice presidential nod or...

LINDA DOUGLASS: I think everybody thinks that Huckabee has been going after the vice presidential slot. He stays in. He runs a polite campaign. He doesn't tear McCain down.

He certainly doesn't attack him in the way that he was attacking Mitt Romney. He shows that he's got strength with all those social conservatives, something McCain presumably would need.

But fiscal conservatives, economic conservatives don't love Huckabee, either. They don't trust him on taxes any more than they trust John McCain. So at the end of the day, he doesn't necessarily look like the best choice for John McCain to put on the ticket.

JUDY WOODRUFF: What do you look for to happen tomorrow, Paul, for the Republican side?

PAUL WEST: On the Republican side, I would expect that there would be a sweep for McCain. And if that's the case, he'll pick up about 116 delegates and get much closer to the number that he needs.

JUDY WOODRUFF: These are winner-take-all.

PAUL WEST: It's winner-take-all by state and, in some cases, by congressional district, but basically he should win 100 delegates or more tomorrow.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But you see Huckabee lingering, in other words?

PAUL WEST: Well, I think Huckabee -- I mean, I think we should take Huckabee at his word. He's waiting for a miracle, and it might happen.

LINDA DOUGLASS: But there are places where he will, you know, at least get votes. He won't get delegates necessarily, but there are places in the country, such as Texas, where he's going to have some kind of following that will make him look like he's got some kind of a following.

PAUL WEST: And in Virginia tomorrow, he'll get lots of votes in Virginia.

Let's talk about the Democrats. Clean sweep over the weekend for Barack Obama, all four states. Linda, what is what the voters are saying in these states tell us about the race?

We've all had a chance now to look at these exit polls and the results, two-to-one in a couple of these contests. What does it say about Obama and Clinton?

LINDA DOUGLASS: Well, what it certainly says about both of them is that they are continuing to win with groups with whom they have been strong all along.

Obama is continuing to win with young people, who haven't turned out before; with people who are independent, the more conservative Democrats; and certainly with African-American voters, no question about that, as a source of great strength for him in a place like Louisiana.

Hillary Clinton continues to do very well with women. She continues to do well with white men. She continues to do well with the more downscale voters, but not well enough to win.

And these were -- first of all, these were caucuses where Obama is very well-organized. He has a very, very good ground operation. And, secondly, in Louisiana, Hillary Clinton was making the argument today -- she made it herself -- that it was that large African-American turnout that made the difference for him.

PAUL WEST: Well, right, and I think that's something we need to be looking at. It's been uneven. He has done well with white voters; he has done well with women, at least black women. And it's possible that he's going to continue to improve his numbers among those groups.

But the other thing he's doing is he's inspiring people, he's exciting people, and he's winning on this dynamic of change that we've heard so much about. She's running as ready on day one; he's running on change. And this year, change has been trumping experience by a considerable margin.

LINDA DOUGLASS: He's also winning states. I mean, when you look at how many states he's won, he's won 19 states. Hillary Clinton is certainly trying to minimize the importance of the caucus states, because those involve people who have to take many steps in order to vote.

But Obama is saying, "We went and organized. We have passionate supporters, and we've shown in red states, like Kansas and Nebraska, all around the country, geographically, that we can win in every state."