US:LAST-MINUTE POLLS in Texas and Ohio served only to emphasise the closeness of yesterday's Democratic primary contest in the two states between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Although voters also went to the polls in Vermont and Rhode Island, all eyes were on the two larger states which Ms Clinton, according to her own husband, must win to make it worthwhile fighting on to the next contest in Pennsylvania on April 23rd.
Mr Obama's allies said even that wouldn't be enough, given his lead in the delegate count and party rules that virtually assure primary losers a significant share of the spoils.
It takes 2,025 delegates to win the Democratic nomination, and slightly more than 600 remained to be picked in the 10 states that vote after yesterday. In all there were 370 Democratic delegates at stake in Rhode Island, Vermont, Ohio and Texas, which uses an unusual primary-caucus system.
After 11 straight victories, Mr Obama had the momentum and the lead in the delegate chase in the Associated Press count, 1,386-1,276.
But Ms Clinton gained ground on Mr Obama in a poll to take a slim lead in Texas and pull even in Ohio, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Houston Chronicle poll released yesterday. She took a 47 per cent to 44 per cent lead on Mr Obama in Texas, reversing his three-point edge on Monday. The lead was within the poll's margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
The race in Ohio was deadlocked at 44 per cent in the polling by Zogby International, a slight gain for Ms Clinton from Mr Obama's two-point edge on Monday.
Meanwhile, Senator John McCain was poised to clinch the Republican nomination as his rival, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, barnstormed across Texas refusing to concede the race is all but over. But despite an essentially insurmountable lead in delegates, Mr McCain said, "I still respect the right of Governor Huckabee to stay in the race as long as he wants to."
Mr McCain has 1,014 delegates to the Republican National Convention, according to a tally by the Associated Press. To secure the nomination, he must win 1,191. The primaries in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont yesterday will award 256 delegates, giving Mr McCain the possibility of wrapping up the most wide open Republican nomination fight in decades.
In an e-mail to supporters, campaign manager Rick Davis predicted: "With wins in these states, John McCain will go 'over the top' and secure enough delegates to win the Republican nomination for president of the United States."
At a rally in Dallas on Monday, Mr Huckabee appeared unbowed. Actor Chuck Norris, who introduced Mr Huckabee to the crowd at Southern Methodist University, pleaded with the students to help Mr Huckabee win Texas. He said that would lead to a convention fight. "If [ Huckabee] wins Texas, you know, John McCain can't get all 1,191 delegates."
Mr Huckabee mocked party officials who have urged him to step aside, saying the election is not yet over. "Texans are a stubbornly independent people," he told the crowd. "You don't tell 'em what they're going to do."
But Mr McCain mostly ignored Mr Huckabee as he continued to act like the party's nominee. At a news conference he argued that he - and neither of his two Democratic rivals - would be best equipped in the case of a middle-of-the-night emergency.
"I've been involved in every major national security challenge for the last 20 years that has faced this country," Mr McCain said.
"I look forward to having that debate as to who's most qualified in the event of a national crisis and the phone ringing at 3am in the White House."
Senator John Kerry, the Democratic Party's defeated 2004 candidate backing Mr Obama, said Ms Clinton must decide after yesterday's primaries whether she has any path to the nomination.
Mr Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe released a memo questioning Ms Clinton's options if she does not make major strides in catching up to Mr Obama in pledged delegates. "While the Clintons gamely continue to try to move the goal posts, at some point there has to be a reckoning," he said. "What is their path to secure the nomination? No amount of spin can change the math."
But Clinton aides said it was high time for Mr Obama to face tough questioning over who is best prepared to take on the Republicans in November and then lead the US into an uncertain economic future.