March 5, 2008 Clinton Gets Ohio and
Texas;
McCain Clinches Republican Nomination By Arun
Kumar
Washington
Hillary Clinton shot back into the presidential race with crucial
victories in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island, snapping Democratic rival
Barack Obama's streak of 11 wins as Republican John McCain clinched
his party's nomination.
Going into Super Tuesday II after 11 straight losses to Obama and
trailing by over a 100 pledged delegates, Hillary Clinton was
fighting a do or die battle to keep alive her campaign to be
America's first woman president.
Clinton's victories in three of the four states with 370 delegates
did not greatly reduce the gap with the frontrunner, but it brought
her right back into the contest.
While Obama, vying to be the first black US chief executive, was
still leading 1,424 to 1,341 in pledged delegates and super
delegates, neither candidate was any closer to the 2,025 needed to
win the party nomination.
Clinton scored a decisive victory in Ohio with a 16 percentage point
margin but the race in Texas ran very close. It was only late into
the night with more than half of Texas precincts reporting that CNN
projected a close 50-48 percent victory for Clinton.
Earlier in the evening, Clinton and Obama split a pair of New
England states, with Clinton winning Rhode Island and Obama taking
Vermont by a wide margin. Obama won the Vermont primary by about 22
percentage points. Clinton had a margin of about 17 percentage
points in Rhode Island.
But the focus on Tuesday was fixed on Ohio and Texas, states that
political experts had said were must-wins for Clinton to remain a
viable candidate, or risk a rapid defection within her party.
Speaking to supporters in Columbus, Ohio, Clinton immediately
couched her victory as a comeback.
"Ohio has written a new chapter in this campaign and we're just
getting started," she said. "For everyone who has stumbled but stood
right back up, and for everyone who works hard and never gives up,
this one is for you."
As Clinton spoke, her crowd responded with chants of "Yes, she
will!" -- an apparently orchestrated response to Obama's trademark
"Yes, we can!"
Even before the polls closed, Obama's aides said that given their
lead in delegates over Clinton, it was not possible for her to catch
up with in the few remaining fights left.
"We are in the middle of a very close race right now in Texas - we
may not even know the final result until morning," Obama told
supporters in San Antonio shortly before midnight. "No matter what
happens tonight, we have nearly the same delegate lead that we did
this morning, and we are on our way to winning this nomination."
Obama had been hoping to firm up his frontrunner status in the
Democratic race, but the victory in Ohio provides a crucial
psychological boost for Clinton's campaign, which has struggled to
regroup from Obama's recent spate of victories.
Early exit polls cited by the media showed that Democratic voters in
Ohio and Texas were more concerned about the weakening economy than
any other issue. Obama was considered more inspiring and more likely
to win in the November presidential poll, but voters in each state
were also more likely to say that Clinton is more qualified to be
commander-in-chief.
Meanwhile, Vietnam war veteran John McCain clinched the Republican
presidential nomination capturing all four primaries of the night.
McCain's sole remaining opponent, former Arkansas governor Mike
Huckabee, called him Tuesday evening to concede the race.
McCain told supporters that he accepted the nomination "with
confidence, humility, and a great sense of responsibility" and
acknowledged it was "an accomplishment that once seemed to more than
a few doubters unlikely".
The one-time insurgent, whose campaign was all but dead seven months
ago, had been far ahead in the delegate count and been bestowed with
the unofficial title of "likely Republican nominee" since his string
of victories Feb 5.
Tuesday's results raised McCain's projected delegate count to 1,205,
taking him over the 1,191 mark needed for the nomination.
In a sign that his party is now officially rallying around him,
McCain will travel to the White House Wednesday for a formal
endorsement by President George Bush, a Republican official said
Tuesday night.
Huckabee said he called McCain to concede and offer his support. "It
looks pretty apparent tonight that he will in fact achieve 1,191
delegates to become the nominee for our party.
"I extended him not only my congratulations, but my commitment to
him and to the party to do everything possible to unite our party,
but more importantly to unite our country so we can be the best
nation we can be."
Huckabee added: "We'll be working on everything we can to help
Senator McCain."
McCain praised Huckabee as "a great and fine and decent American".
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