DEMOCRATS FACE a further three months of tough campaigning after Hillary Clinton rebounded from a month of losses to win three out of four primaries on Tuesday night, including the crucial states of Texas and Ohio, writes Denis Stauntonin Columbus, Ohio
Barack Obama retains a substantial lead among the delegates who will choose the Democratic presidential nominee, but Mrs Clinton's comeback has ensured that the race will continue past next month's Pennsylvania primary and probably into June when Puerto Rico holds the final contest of the campaign.
"As Ohio goes, so goes the nation," Mrs Clinton told cheering supporters in Columbus. "Well, this nation's coming back and so is this campaign. We're going on. We're going strong and we're going all the way."
Mrs Clinton's wins came as John McCain won enough delegates to secure the Republican nomination, defeating former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island.
President George Bush yesterday endorsed Mr McCain, whom he defeated eight years ago in a bitter battle for his party's nomination.
"I got a lot to do, but I'm going to find ample time to help," Mr Bush said during a joint appearance with Mr McCain in the White House.
"I can help raise him money, and if he wants my pretty face standing by his side at one of these rallies, I'd be glad to show up."
Mrs Clinton won Ohio by 54 per cent to 44 per cent, Texas by 51 per cent to 47 per cent and Rhode Island by 58 per cent to 40 per cent. Mr Obama won Vermont by 60 per cent to 38 per cent.
The support of white, working-class men, women, Catholics, Latinos, voters without a college education and those earning less than $50,000 a year helped Mrs Clinton to her victories.
Although she continued to question Mr Obama's readiness to be president, Mrs Clinton yesterday hinted at the prospect of a joint Democratic ticket.
"That may be where this is headed, but of course we have to decide who is on the top of the ticket," she told CBS News. Mr Obama dismissed talk of a joint ticket as premature, blaming Mrs Clinton's aggressive campaigning for his losses and signalling that he will step up his attacks on her in the weeks ahead.
He hit back yesterday at Mrs Clinton's claim that, unlike Mr McCain and herself, Mr Obama lacks the foreign policy expertise needed to be president.
"What exactly is this foreign policy experience?" Mr Obama asked. "Was she negotiating treaties? Was she handling crises? The answer is no." Tuesday's primaries did little to dent Mr Obama's lead among delegates, partly because a complicated system in Texas awards some delegates in a caucus and favours big cities where Mr Obama polled well.
Mr Obama expects to win a caucus in Wyoming on Saturday and a primary in Mississippi next Tuesday, but Mrs Clinton is confident of victory in the next big state to vote, Pennsylvania on April 22nd.
Both campaigns are energetically wooing super-delegates, 795 elected officials and other Democratic party leaders who account for one-fifth of the votes at the party's nominating convention in August. Mrs Clinton hopes that Tuesday's victories will halt the drift of super-delegates to Mr Obama and encourage donors to contribute to her campaign.
She said yesterday that voters were taking a second look at the candidates and reflecting on which of them had the right experience to take on the presidency.
"It is necessary to ask voters to determine who they would like to see as the commander-in-chief," she said.