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Politics

Clinton snaps Obama's streak

John McCain locks up the nomination with four wins.

By Wes Allison, Times Staff Writer
Published March 5, 2008

Victories by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, at a rally Tuesday night in Columbus, Ohio, keep the Democratic race wide-open.
	[Reuters]

ADVERTISEMENT [Associated Press] McCain clinches Just six months ago, many had written off the candidacy of John McCain. On Tuesday, he showcased his remarkable comeback. [Getty Images] Sen. Barack Obama, with wife Michelle, hopscotch across Texas Tuesday. He and Sen. Hillary Clinton ran nearly even in the vote.

WASHINGTON -- Call her the new comeback kid.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton once again proved her political resiliency, blocking Sen. Barack Obama's march to the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday by winning two of the primary season's biggest prizes in Ohio and Texas and increasing the likelihood that the party may not choose a nominee for weeks, if not months.

A four-state primary night that was supposed to provide some clarity in this hard-fought battleinstead only muddied the waters, with Obama unable to deliver a knockout blow and Clinton able to claim that she had checked his momentum.

Clinton won Rhode Island, while Obama won Vermont.

Meanwhile, Arizona Sen. John McCain consummated his remarkable comeback after being considered all but irrelevant just six months ago, clinching the Republican nomination with overwhelming victories in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island over his erstwhile opponent, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Huckabee promptly quit and pledged to help McCain win the White House, while McCain promised to unify both his party and the country.

"We are the captains of our fate," McCain, 71, told a packed ballroom in Dallas. "We're the world's leader, and leaders don't pine for the past and dread the future. ... We don't hide from history, we make history. ... That my friends is the essence of hope in America.

"The contest begins tonight."

For the Democrats, however, Tuesday only further complicated the picture.

Clinton had lost 11 contests in a row entering the night and was beginning to feel pressure from Democratic leaders to step aside for the sake of unifying the party before the general election. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had said she needed to win both Ohio and Texas to win the nomination.

Sen. Clinton, who represents New York, had abstained from such absolutes, but her campaign clearly saw Ohio and Texas as her last chance to thwart Obama before the convention. In her victory speech Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio, she couched Ohio as a resurgence for her campaign.

"For everyone ... who's ever been counted out but refused to be knocked out ... this one is for you," Clinton said to cheers.

"You know what they say -- as Ohio goes, so goes the nation. Well, this nation is coming back, and so is this campaign."

Obama congratulated Clinton on winning Ohio, but gave no quarter. Even though Clinton edged him in Texas, the Democrats allocate delegates on a proportional basis and she was unlikely to make much headway against his 116-delegate lead by the Associated Press count.

"No matter what happens tonight, we have nearly the same delegate lead as we did this morning, and we are on our way to winning this nomination," Obama told supporters in Texas.

But Clinton's victories clearly prolong her candidacy, and Clinton and her supporters argued Tuesday that she had won enough large states to contend she would be the most formidable in the general election. They also said Clinton's lot would improve as Obama, the current frontrunner, undergoes more scrutiny.

"Why should she give up? Thirty percent of the electorate has still not voted yet," said Ana Cruz of Tampa, a veteran Democratic operative and top organizer for Clinton in Florida. "We need a nominee who can win these large states."

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Westin, a key Clinton supporter in Florida, said her victory in Ohio was a clear sign that the momentum is shifting her way.

"The tradition of presidential campaigns in America is they unfold, and Americans are given the chance to weigh in," Wasserman Schultz said.

"It's about 50-50 now, and that means to me that more people need to weigh in ... to help us reach the magic number. And that's the best thing we can do in terms of the unity ... for the outcome to be decided by voters, not by party bosses, not by pressure for one candidate to get in or stay out."

Twelve Democratic primaries or caucuses remain, and Clinton hopes Ohio will provide a springboard to the April 22 primary in neighboring Pennsylvania, wherea whopping 158 delegates are at stake. Barring an overwhelming victory by either candidate in upcoming states, it will become difficult for Clinton or Obama "to deliver a knockout punch," said Ryan Barilleaux, chairman of the political science department at Miami University in Ohio.

"As long as the second-place finisher isn't absolutely destroyed, the second-place finisher keeps picking up delegates."

It takes 2,025 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination. Although Obama leads among delegates whose votes are apportioned by caucus and primary results, Clinton holds a slight lead among the 796 superdelegates -- the elected officials and luminaries who can support whomever they like, and who may ultimately decide the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August.

Only about half the superdelegates have declared an allegiance, and both campaigns are courting them heavily. Some have recently left Clinton's camp for Obama, and her supporters said her performance Tuesday should prevent a mass exodus. At the very least, it allows her to make the argument to undecided superdelegates to remain undecided, analysts said.

"She's going to go back to those people and say, 'Hey, don't close the door on me, I'm still competing,' " Barilleaux said. "I think a lot of them have basically said I'm keeping my options open, but they want to see how she's doing.

"If she can show she's viable, then her superdelegates aren't likely to bolt. And if people call for her to leave the race, she can say, 'Why should I leave the race? I'm winning big states.' "

And despite Obama's tremendous momentum after Super Tuesday a month ago, he has failed to close the deal with many Democratic voters in those states. The biggest state he's won has been his home state of Illinois, while Clinton has won New York, California, New Jersey and Florida, though Florida's results didn't count.

Clinton's campaign stepped up its attacks on Obama in recent days, raising questions about how ready Obama, a freshman senator from Illinois, is to lead the free world. Clinton also helped fan the flames of controversy that erupted over the discussions an Obama campaign adviser had with Canadian officials over Obama's tough talk on trade.

In Texas, the Clinton campaign complained of voter intimidation at caucus sites and claimed that Obama supporters were locking out Clinton supporters.

Michael McDonald, an expert in campaigns and elections at George Mason University outside Washington, said things appeared to be going Obama's way in Ohio and Texas the past couple of weeks, but polls showed support sliding back toward Clinton in the two days before the elections.

"It tells us ... there's a group of people here in the middle who are really unsure about where they want to go," McDonald said. "They almost seem willing to vote for Obama, then the last minute they take a step a back."

Times political editor Adam C. Smith contributed to this report. Wes Allison can be reached at allison@sptimes.com or (202) 463-0577.

Up next for the Democrats:

• Saturday: Wyoming caucus, 12 delegates
• Tuesday: Mississippi primary, 33 delegates
• April 22: Pennsylvania primary, 158 delegates

[Last modified March 5, 2008, 03:03:54]