From the New York Times:

Senator Barack Obama emerged from Tuesday’s primaries leading Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton by more than 100 delegates, a small but significant advantage that Democrats said would be difficult for Mrs. Clinton to make up in the remaining contests in the presidential nomination battle.

… By any measure, Mr. Obama is in a much stronger position on Wednesday than he was just a few days ago and in a significantly stronger position than Mrs. Clinton thought he would be at this point. That is because Mr. Obama not only won a series of states, but also won them by large margins — over 20 percentage points — so that he began picking up extra delegates and opening a lead on Mrs. Clinton.

From the Washington Post:

Sen. Barack Obama's surprising 28-point win in Tuesday's Virginia primary, in which he piled up a larger share of the votes than in Maryland, showed his campaign's success in turning out voters and broadening his formidable coalition of supporters in the week since Super Tuesday.

… Storefront headquarters for Obama started popping up across the state even before Super Tuesday. His campaign ran television ads in the state for a week before Clinton responded. On the eve of the election, tens of thousands of residents in majority-black neighborhoods received a recorded call from Obama urging them to vote.

Scott A. Surovell, chairman of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee, said the energy of the Obama effort was undeniable. "Incredible intensity among activists and young people," Surovell said.

… "If you look at past primaries, that is just unheard of," Rep. Robert C. Scott (D-Va.) said of the 3rd District. "He really struck a nerve. It shows he can be competitive across the South, and if we can carry Virginia or another Southern state, the electoral college arithmetic is very problematic for Republicans."

From the Washington Post:

Sen. Barack Obama's 3 to 1 trouncing of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the District was a combination of political machinery and grass-roots momentum.

Pre-certified election results released yesterday show that Obama won more than 75 percent of the Democratic vote and that 123,735 residents cast ballots. According to the data, the Illinois senator swept all 142 precincts, the same way Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) did in his 2006 primary win.

Fenty, known for his relentless door knocking, served as chairman of Obama's D.C. campaign, and his operatives teamed up with college students and a large grass-roots organization called DC for Obama to help get voters to the polls. Their strong on-the-ground outreach of 1,000 volunteers Tuesday, coupled with the enthusiasm for Obama's national campaign, was too much for Clinton to overcome, said John Falcicchio, a senior political adviser to Fenty and the behind-the-scenes organizer for the D.C. effort.

"There was this general excitement. . . . What we were able to do is harness that," he said. "The other campaign did not have that capacity."

…"At the grass-roots level, the Obama people outmatched Clinton," Thomas Smith said.

From the Los Angeles Times:

From his South Texas home, Chuck Barracato watches the news to see how Barack Obama is doing. When Barracato is moved by Obama's message or senses that the Illinois senator could use some help, he digs into his savings and chips in $25 for the candidate's presidential campaign.

Barracato's payments, sent by computer click, add up to $700, maybe a little more. It's not a big sum by the standards of political donations, but it's enough to make Barracato part of a movement that some experts believe is reshaping presidential fundraising.

"I am grass-roots," said Barracato, 68, a retired teacher who has gotten involved in the 2008 presidential campaign because of his opposition to the war in Iraq. "I am the itty-bitty guy behind the movement."

… The role of small donors is heartening advocates of campaign finance reform. Small donors, by definition, are not insiders seeking special access or favors in exchange for their largesse.

… Half of Clinton's donations earmarked for the primary campaign came in increments of $2,300. By comparison, one-third of Obama's money arrived in $2,300 chunks, according to the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute in Washington.

The difference could prove crucial in the weeks ahead. Obama has a far larger pool of donors to turn to for more money. His campaign says he has 650,000 donors, many just a click away from sending more funds.

… For small donors such as John Cheever, a teacher, Obama has a magnetic appeal. "Corny as it sounds, it is the hope," said Cheever, who regular sends in $25 or so. Cheever, who works at Punahou School, a private academy in Honolulu that Obama attended as a child, added: "I have been so distressed by the past seven years."

From the Washington Post:

Win or lose, Barack Obama has changed America.

"I've actually changed my view of Americans," said Marvin Lawson of Columbia, a black man who is retired and went with his wife, Victoria, to see Obama speak at the University of Maryland this week.

.. Perhaps even more important, for the fall election and our polarized, low-participation polity, Obama drew hundreds of thousands of first-time primary voters to the polls Tuesday. In Virginia, one-third of Democratic voters told pollsters they were participating in their first primary. In Maryland, more than twice as many people voted in Prince George's County as in the primary four years earlier.

The Obama effect contributed to a remarkable event: Eight-term Rep. Al Wynn, of Prince George's and Montgomery counties, fell to second-time challenger Donna Edwards … In the Prince George's part of the 4th District, she leaped from 40 percent in 2006 to 55 percent Tuesday, rocketed to victory by the huge turnout for Obama.

… We are experiencing a bump of the nation's political tectonic plates. The changes have been happening for a long time, and we are only now realizing how deep they are. And those changes are not merely about racial attitudes. This is a generational shift as well. What first appeared to be a movement driven by college students is now winning the hearts and votes of boomers …

At the College Park rally, three women from Silver Spring talked about how Obama reminds them of the sense of possibility that permeated their idealistic youth.

"I brought my daughter here because I was thinking about when I was 8 and my mother took me out of school to see Robert Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson campaigning, and the school gave my mother a lot of grief about it," Barbara Shulman said.

…"How could we not be here?" Suzanne Mintz asked. "It's just inspiring to see jazzed young people. This is the first election where I feel everybody's voting for somebody and it's not just the better of two evils."