Net Results

Poll closings were delayed in Maryland by 90 minutes because of a traffic-snarling ice storm, but media outlets waited milliseconds after 9:30 to call the Democratic primary for Barack Obama and the Republican primary for John McCain.

Obama's win, his sixth in a row since his virtual draw with Hillary Clinton on Super Tuesday, was presaged by his clear victory in Virginia, where polls closed at 7. While exit polling shows Obama winning across demographic boundaries tonight, his overwhelming support among black voters provides him a major building block. So after Obama clinched Virginia, his win in Maryland -- where blacks, in percentage terms, make up a third bigger share of the population -- became a no-brainer.

Clinton lost Maryland even though many of the state's political titans, including Gov. Martin O'Malley and Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, stuck with her.

On the Republican side, Maryland's political demographics appeared to favor McCain and give Huckabee less room for an upset. The GOP electorate in the state, which has a Northeastern orientation, has a larger moderate segment than in states further south, including Virginia. McCain's well-known history as a Vietnam POW and strong supporter of sustaining the U.S. military effort in Iraq also likely gained him support from the large number of Maryland Republicans will military ties.