WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton salvaged her presidential candidacy yesterday with turnaround victories in Ohio and Texas that could prolong the Democratic campaign for months.
On the last big primary day of the season, Clinton won Ohio and Rhode Island and, based on network projections and incomplete returns, also scored a win over Barack Obama in Texas.
Obama, who won the Vermont primary, holds a virtually insurmountable lead in pledged delegates allocated in primaries and caucuses. He has also cut Clinton's edge among superdelegates over the course of the primary season.
But Clinton made it clear last night that she intends to continue her campaign for at least seven more weeks, when Pennsylvania holds the next major primary.
"We're going on. We're going strong, and we're going all the way," she told a boisterous victory rally in Columbus, Ohio, with her daughter, Chelsea, beside her.
"Millions of Americans haven't spoken yet. In states like Pennsylvania, and so many others, people are watching this historic campaign and they want their turn to help make history. They want their voices to count and they should."
Obama responded minutes later by congratulating Clinton. He also directed his comments toward John McCain, whom he congratulated earlier by phone after the Arizona senator clinched the Republican nomination.
"No matter what happens tonight, we have nearly the same delegate lead as we did this morning, and we are on the way to winning this nomination," Obama told an outdoor rally in San Antonio, where he was joined by his wife, Michelle.
Obama said Clinton and McCain were wrong to dismiss his campaign message as "empty." He said there was nothing empty about his call for affordable health care, adding that his goals included restoring pride in America and its reputation abroad.
Yesterday's primaries ended Clinton's post-Super Tuesday victory drought. Two weeks of intense campaigning by the New York senator and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, produced her best big-state showing in a month.
In Ohio, white voters, especially white women, were key in her effort to hold off Obama, as they had been in New Hampshire, where she pulled out a crucial victory. In Texas, an avalanche of Latino votes for Clinton more than offset Obama's strong support from African-Americans.
