Sen. Barack Obama is the projected winner of the Maine caucuses, one day after getting a boost in delegate support by sweeping three states and the Virgin Islands.
Obama is now seeking to present himself as the perfect Democratic candidate to run against presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.
In Richmond, Va. on Saturday night, Obama asked Democrats in the southern state to end the "same old Washington games with the same old Washington players."
He was referring both to McCain, the veteran senator from Arizona, and his main rival -- New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Obama suggested McCain would just be an extension of the George Bush presidency.
"He has made the decision to embrace the failed policies of George Bush's Washington," Obama said of McCain. "He speaks of a hundred-year war in Iraq and sees another on the horizon with Iran."
In her remarks delivered earlier, Clinton didn't mention her losses, but she did lambaste the Bush administration.
"We have tried it President Bush's way," she said, and now "the Republicans have chosen more of the same."
"President Bush has already put his stamp of approval on Senator McCain's conservative credentials," she said, adding wryly, "and I'm sure that will help."
In an interview broadcast Sunday on Fox News, Bush -- who currently has an approval rating of 30 per cent, the lowest of his presidency -- praised McCain as a "true conservative."
"He is tough fiscally. He believes the tax cuts ought to be permanent. He is pro-life. His principles are sound and solid as far as I'm concerned," the president said.
McCain has come under fire from prominent conservative commentators like talk show host Rush Limbaugh and columnist Ann Coulter.
"I think that if John is the nominee, he has got some convincing to do to convince people that he is a solid conservative and I'll be glad to help him if he is the nominee," Bush said.
McCain emerged as the clear leader after Super Tuesday, but he lost on Saturday to former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee in Kansas and Louisiana, although he took Washington.
However, McCain has the support of 719 delegates (he needs 1,191), while Huckabee has 234.
The Democrats' delegate count isn't as clear, but Obama and Clinton are believed to be essentially tied. The successful candidate will need the support of 2,025 delegates at the Democratic national convention in Denver. Twenty-nine of 50 states have voted so far.
Maine, with 24 delegates, holds caucuses today. Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia and voting by Americans overseas are next, on Tuesday, with 175 combined.
The next big Democratic date is March 4, when Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont vote. Three-hundred-seventy delegates are up for grabs on that day.
With files from The Associated Press
