Washington - Hillary Clinton won Ohio in the Democratic race
for the presidential nomination, ending rival Barack Obama's 11-state
string of victories, while John McCain captured the Republican
nomination with wins in all four states voting on Tuesday.
Clinton, 60, held a commanding lead over Obama of 58 per cent to
40 per cent in Ohio with more than half the votes counted, while the
two remained neck-and-neck in the other key contest in Texas. The two
rivals split Tuesday's small-state primaries with Obama winning
Vermont and Clinton taking Rhode Island.
'You know what they say - as Ohio goes, so goes the nation. Well,
this nation's coming back, and so is this campaign,' Clinton told
ecstatic supporters in Columbus, Ohio.
'Ohio has written a new chapter in the history of this campaign,
and we're just getting started.'
The Ohio and Rhode Island victories ended Obama's winning streak
in 11 straight state contests, which had established him as the clear
Democratic frontrunner, giving him a small but significant lead in
the delegate count and building nationwide momentum.
Meanwhile, Clinton's campaign had been running short of money
while combatting her rival's growing image of inevitability. Even
former president Bill Clinton had said that his wife had to win in
Texas and Ohio to keep alive her hopes of becoming the first female
president.
Some Democrats, however, have urged Clinton to drop out of the
race so that Obama can begin confronting McCain in the presidential
election without having to devote time and money to the intra-party
duel.
The now-certain Republican nominee McCain, 71, told cheering
supporters that the general election 'begins tonight,' after his last
challenger, Mike Huckabee, conceded defeat and promised to help unite
the party behind the Arizona senator.
'My friends, now we begin the most important part of our
campaign,' McCain told cheering supporters at a rally in Dallas,
Texas.
McCain effectively sealed the Republican nomination weeks ago and
has increasingly refocused his presidential campaign on the November
4 general elections.
On Tuesday, he offered the broad outlines of his future campaign
strategy, promising victory in Iraq and chiding Democrats for
focussing on the 2003 invasion.
'It is of little use to Americans for their candidates to avoid
the many complex challenges of these struggles by re-litigating
decisions of the past,' McCain said.
'The next president must explain how he or she intends to bring
that war to the swiftest possible conclusion without exacerbating a
sectarian conflict that could quickly descend into genocide,
destabilizing the entire Middle East.'
The Clinton and Obama camps have become nastier in recent weeks,
exchanging barbs over campaign tactics and highlighting their
differences over the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),
enacted during Bill Clinton's administration.
While the trade accord has benefited border states like Texas, it
is unpopular in Ohio, which has suffered losses of manufacturing
jobs. Both candidates say that NAFTA needs to be revised to protect
US workers, and both have proclaimed willingness to pull out of the
agreement if it cannot be renegotiated.
Clinton aides have questioned Obama's relationship with a
developer in Chicago, Antoin Rezko, now on trial for exploiting
political relationships with the current governor of Illinois to
obtain kickbacks on state contracts.
Obama charged that Clinton was throwing the 'kitchen sink' in an
effort to rescue her bid for the White House.
Clinton has touted her experience in the White House and longer
tenure than Obama in the Senate to argue that she is better prepared
for the presidency, and repeated Tuesday that she will be ready to
take the helm on 'day one.'
Obama's message of change has caught on with voters and propelled
him to the front of the race, bucking Clinton from her dominating
position early in the campaign.
USA
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