Net Results

CQ Politics' Greg Giroux notes the following interesting twist concerning one of Barack Obama's congressional supporters from Virginia....

Rick Boucher, the 13-term House Democrat from Virginia's 9th Congressional District, endorsed Obama in late January. This makes him look very smart everywhere in the state... except his home district.

With about three-quarters of precincts reporting statewide, Obama led Hillary Clinton by 64 percent to 35 percent. He also had big leads in 10 of the state's 11 congressional districts. The one exception: the 9th District, where Clinton was leading Obama by a 2-to-1 ratio.

This outcome, though, is much more of a statement about the district's demographics than Boucher's influence. Clinton, even as her overall results have sagged over recent contests, has done best among the lowest-income voters. And the 9th District, in the rugged Appalachian hill country of southwestern Virginia, is the state's least affluent district.

In addition, Obama's dominance among black voters had its least effect in the 9th. Blacks make up less than 5 percent of the district's population, their lowest share in any of Virginia's districts. Blacks make up about a fifth of the state's total population.