Obama rides momentum into Wis.

MILWAUKEE -- Democrat Barack Obama swept into Wisconsin on Tuesday as huge primary victories unfolded back East. A decisive win here next week could be a breakthrough in a contest that so far has failed to produce sustained momentum for Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Clinton, coming off the resignations of two top campaign aides and eight losses since Super Tuesday on Feb. 5, is not ignoring Wisconsin. But she's focusing more attention on March 4 contests in Texas and Ohio.

The party's proportional system of allocating delegates has kept the pair in rough parity so far as they fight for the majority that will lock up the presidential nomination. But Obama's wins Tuesday in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia suggested a more dramatic sense of movement.

Clinton and Obama are "inching along" on delegates, said Jean Hessburg, a former Iowa party official who directed this year's Nevada caucuses, "but the perception is that he is sweeping the country."

Analysts here say an Obama win next Tuesday in Wisconsin would be special, precisely because there's nothing special about Wisconsin. It would show his success is "not just a function of tiny states with bizarre caucus mechanisms or states that have large African-American populations. He can win in typical, average states," said Thomas Holbrook, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Wisconsin has 74 delegates at stake. It will also test whether Obama can match his much improved showings Tuesday with female, Latino, senior and white voters. "If Obama can win in Wisconsin, he really looks to be unstoppable," said John McAdams, a political scientist at Marquette University.

David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, said the Illinois senator will continue to run as neither underdog nor front-runner. "You have to assume that you're just at a level playing field," he said. "If momentum helps attract support, great, but we don't count on it."

Clinton strategist Mark Penn said the campaign is looking ahead to March 4. As for Wisconsin, "we're going to play within the means that we have, but we clearly will have been outspent" by Obama.

Clinton victories in Texas and Ohio would keep the delegate count competitive, as well as re-energize her campaign and donors. A loss here would make those states "the absolute last-ditch chance" for her to rebound, McAdams said.

Obama's big wins Tuesday were bolstered by black voters, who made up 29% of the electorate in Virginia and 37% in Maryland.

Wisconsin has a population of 5.4 million and is about 89% white. It has many young people and upscale liberals, groups that have flocked to Obama in past contests. He does well with independents, and they can vote here next Tuesday. Another good sign for him is that he raised far more money here last year than Clinton did: $583,523 vs. $180,583, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Yet, the state's image as a liberal, outsider-friendly bastion is not reality, said Barry Burden, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Cases in point: John Kerry beat Howard Dean in 2004, Walter Mondale beat Gary Hart in 1984, and Michael Dukakis beat Jesse Jackson in 1988. "In a lot of cases, the insurgent campaign ends here," Burden said.

Also favorable for Clinton: She has prevailed in past contests with rural and lower-income voters, and there's no shortage of them here.

Whoever wins likely faces a challenge to carry the state in November. In 2004, Kerry won 49.8% of the vote; President Bush got 49.4%.

Two new polls of the state this month are in conflict. A Feb. 6-7 poll by the American Research Group had Clinton ahead 50%-41%. Public Policy Polling released a poll Tuesday, conducted Monday, that gave Obama a 50%-39% lead.

Clinton's measured approach in Wisconsin resembles the way she handled South Carolina. Her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, was here Monday and Tuesday and husband Bill arrives Thursday. Clinton herself was in Texas today. She'll be in Wisconsin at week's end for campaign events and a party gala.

Obama, as he did in South Carolina, is competing harder than Clinton here. Clinton started airing a television ad Tuesday; Obama's TV ads started Friday. While she traveled Tuesday to Texas, he held a rally in Madison. Today, homing in on an area Clinton has so far dominated, he scheduled a "major economic speech" in Janesville, followed by town hall meetings in Republican-leaning Waukesha and working-class Racine.

Clinton's wait for the March 4 contests has prompted analogies to "the Giuliani strategy" — a reference to former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani's decision to sit out or campaign sporadically in a half-dozen early Republican contests and make his stand in Florida. He was out of the media spotlight for weeks and ended up losing in his handpicked battleground.

Penn said Giuliani won no states, while Clinton's victories include California, New York and New Jersey. "We have won an enormous number of key states," he said. "It's a non-comparison."