Clinton Wins in Ohio and Rhode Island

Hillary Clinton threw the Democratic race wide open today when she bounced back to win two states, Ohio and Rhode Island, to end Barack Obama's long string of victories.

Her wins raise the prospect of an extended contest for the Democratic nomination that could go all the way to the party convention in Denver in August.

Her tactics over the last week, pressing Obama hard on national security, the economy and his relations with Anton 'Tony' Rezko, who is on trial for alleged corruption, paid off.

Obama had won the previous 11 contests and added the small New England state Vermont to that tally today.

Speaking in Columbus, Ohio, Clinton dedicated her win to everyone across America who has been counted out but refused to give up.

Referring to Ohio's place in US election history as the key swing state, she said: "You know what they say: As Ohio goes, so goes the nation. Well, this nation's coming back and so is this campaign," she said. "We're going on, we're going strong and we're going all the way. The nation is coming back and so is this campaign."

Clinton had been close to being written off and faced calls from Obama's supporters to quit the race, but she staged a comeback today more impressive than her surprise win in New Hampshire in January.

The biggest prize of the day, Texas, was still too close to call early today. In Texas, with 46% of the votes counted, Clinton had 50% to Obama's 48%. The Clinton camp threatened to raise alleged irregularities during voting in the state.

In his speech in San Antonio, Texas, Obama congratulated Clinton on her wins but reminded her that, in spite of her victories, he retained an overall lead in the number of delegates who will vote for the nominee at the party convention.

Before last night's primaries, Obama had 1,386 delegates (including the 'super-delegates', senior Democrats such as members of Congress who automatically have a vote) and Clinton 1,276.

Clinton picked up at least five delegates in Rhode Island. Obama won at least eight delegates in Vermont.

The next contest is Wyoming, which holds its caucuses on Saturday, followed by Mississippi, which has its primary on Tuesday.

Two senior members of Clinton's team, Howard Wolfson and Phil Singer, yesterday signaled they expected Obama to win both. But they expressed confidence that she will take the next big prize, Pennsylvania on April 22, the last of the mega-states in the race.

The Ohio victory will allow Clinton to claim that she wins the big states - New York, California and New Jersey - while Obama has won mostly small ones.

In her speech, Clinton referred to one of the most successful ploys she adopted in her aggressive pursuit of Obama over the last week that will go down in history as a turning point in the campaign, the phone call ad.

The ad showed sleeping children and asking voters who they would want to answer the phone at the White House at 3 in the morning to deal with a crisis, the implication being that Obama lacked the experience.

In Ohio, with 68% of the vote counted, Clinton had 56% to Obama's 42%.

Rhode Island was called early for Clinton on the basis of exit polls.

With 97% of the votes counted, Clinton had 58% to Obama's 41%.

Vermont was called early for Obama. With 83% of the vote counted, Clinton had 38% to Obama's 60%.

In the other contest, John McCain formally wrapped up the Republican race with a clean sweep of Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island that gave him 1,199 delegates and pushed him over the magic line, the 1,191 delegates needed to secure the nomination.

Last night, before all the votes were counted, his main rival, Mike Huckabee, phoned McCain to inform him he was pulling out of the contest. President George Bush is expected to endorse McCain today at the White House.

With Clinton and Obama continuing to battle it out for the Democratic nomination, McCain has a potential advantage in that he is now free to prepare for the November general election.

With 64% of the votes counted in the Republican contest in Texas, where Huckabee had hoped he could secure a victory as he had in other southern states, McCain took 52% to the Baptist pastor's 36%.

In Ohio, with 64% of the votes counted, he took 59% to Huckabee's 32%. In Rhode Island, with 97% of the vote counted, he took 65% to Huckabee's 22%. In Vermont, with 83% of the vote counted, he had 72% to Huckabee's 14%.

Ohio's governor, Ted Strickland, downplayed the argument of the Obama camp that it remained impossible for Clinton to catch up to his lead in delegates.

Strickland suggested that super-delegates should keep in mind Clinton's performance in large states such as New York, New Jersey and California as well as the delegate count.

The magic number for securing the Democratic nomination is 2,025 delegates at the party conference in Denver in August. There are ten contests remaining, with more than 600 at stake.

Exit polls in yesterday's primaries showed that concern about the economy was the biggest issue for most voters, 61% in recession-hit Ohio and 48% in Texas.

The Iraq war, the biggest issue throughout most of last year, was named as the main issue by only 17% of those leaving the polls yesterday in Ohio and 26% in Texas.

In Vermont, a liberal state, which is strongly anti-war, voters named the Iraq war as one of the main issues, second only to the economy. Thirty-six per cent said opposition to the Iraq war was the main issue while 40% said it was the impending recession.

Exit polls in Texas showed Clinton won the overwhelming support of Latino voters, who make up about a third of Democratic voters in the state. She won 64% of them.

That looked set to eclipse Obama's strength among African American voters, where there was a slightly lower turnout than in the 2004

Exit polls in Ohio showed Clinton holding on to her core support: women, low-income voters and union households.

However, Obama carried more than 90% of the African American vote which made up 20% of the electorate.