DALLAS, Texas (AFP) — Voters in Ohio and Texas held the White House dreams of Hillary Clinton in their hands Tuesday as Barack Obama battled to knock the tenacious former first lady out of the bitter Democratic race.
Days of mud-slinging between the Democrats climaxed with primaries in the two states, along with Rhode Island and Vermont, while Senator John McCain was bidding to seal the Republican nomination.
Heading into the votes, Clinton hurled a barrage of attacks portraying her charismatic younger rival as inexperienced, duplicitous and lacking in the strength needed to take on the Republicans in November's general election.
"We think we are going to do really well here in Texas and Ohio, I am feeling really optimistic," she said outside a school in Houston, before flying to Dallas and then to Ohio to await the results of "Super Tuesday II."
Asked about her plans for the campaign going forward, the New York senator said: "We are going to get through today, and we are going to see how we do. I believe in taking things one day at a time in politics, as in life."
Obama called the fusillade a "kitchen-sink strategy" that would not change the facts on the ground -- he has a clear lead among Democratic delegates which Clinton can only overhaul with landslide victories on Tuesday and beyond.
Polls suggested no such outcome was in the offing on the biggest day of presidential voting since the original "Super Tuesday" of February 5.
The latest Zogby tracking poll gave Clinton a narrow three-point lead over Obama in Texas -- 47 percent to 44 percent -- and had them tied in Ohio on 44 percent each.
"It looks like a combination of questions raised about Obama's capacity to lead the military, his stance on NAFTA, and questions about ethics have shaved a few points off his support (in Ohio)," pollster John Zogby said.
Obama had been on a roll with 11 nominating wins in a row since February 5, and some of his most prominent backers have been calling on Clinton to bow out for the sake of Democratic unity.
Even former president Bill Clinton has said his wife must win both Ohio and Texas to sustain her dream of following him into the Oval Office.
But Obama has been on the defensive, with Clinton attacking his national security credentials and alleging that he is hood-winking voters with his professed opposition to the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA).
At a combative press conference late Monday, Obama was also grilled about his ties to a Chicago property developer, Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who is on trial for corruption.
Obama's campaign hit back, mocking Clinton's argument that her "35 years of experience" including her time as first lady qualified her to be president.
Clinton "failed the commander-in-chief test" by voting for the war in Iraq, and had made "exaggerated claims about her role in Kosovo and the Northern Ireland peace process," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton.
According to RealClearPolitics.com, Obama leads by 1,392 delegates to Clinton's 1,279. The winning line to secure the White House nomination is 2,025.
A total of 370 delegates were at stake on Tuesday, but the Democratic Party awards them proportionally, so the overall tally was unlikely to change much either way.
The Republican contests in Ohio and Texas were winner-takes-all, boosting McCain's chances of eliminating former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee from the race. McCain is just 172 delegates short of the winning line of 1,191.
"I believe that with your help today that we can secure enough delegates to make sure that we can secure the nomination, but we have to win and we have to win big here in the state of Texas," he told supporters in San Antonio.
While record turnout was forecast in Texas, freezing rain and snow had the potential to affect the primary in Ohio.
Mary Ann Caston, a part-time teacher in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, said she voted for Clinton.
"I think she has the experience we need, and the recognition in the world of who she is and what she stands for," Caston said.
Tsipora Nemes, a waitress in Cleveland Heights, said she chose Obama because "I really don't like Hillary."
"They're probably going to do about the same thing. But she's a bit harsh. She did do a big negative campaign against Obama. I didn't like that at all," she said.
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