Washington - -- No matter what Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton throws at Sen. Barack Obama, and no matter where she throws it, she has not found a way to stop his relentless accumulation of victories and delegates to secure the Democratic nomination for president.
Obama's double-digit win in Wisconsin and his expected victory in Hawaii hand the Illinois newcomer an unbroken string of 10 victories and a huge tailwind heading into what could be decisive contests in Ohio and Texas on March 4.
With 334 delegates at stake, both are must-wins for Clinton, even by her own campaign's calculations. "A defeat would be decisive in those states," said Tad Devine, who ran the campaigns of previous Democratic nominees Al Gore and John Kerry. "I think if he wins either one, she has a really hard time explaining why she should be the nominee."
Obama appears to have a lead of more than 150 pledged delegates, the ones elected by voters in primaries and caucuses. Because Democratic delegates are awarded according to the proportion of the vote each candidate wins, Obama's lead is increasingly difficult to close. Clinton needs to swamp Obama in Texas and Ohio as well as in Pennsylvania on April 22 to accumulate enough delegates to even up the race. A close Clinton win in either state still would give a lot of delegates to Obama and preserve his advantage.
If Obama wins Ohio or Texas, "I don't see how she would be able to hold off forces that would then begin to build behind his candidacy, including a huge number of the superdelegates," Devine said. "I think all the institutional party apparatus and others would say, 'Look, we need to unite behind this guy.' "
Wisconsin and its 74 delegates seemed to hold an advantage for Clinton. The state is 90 percent white and more than 50 percent female and has large numbers of working-class voters stung by the slowing economy. Yet exit polls showed Obama made inroads into Clinton's base among all those groups and won by double digits despite the dearth of African Americans in the state.
Clinton made few gains among Obama's supporters among youth and men. Clinton's sharply escalated negative attacks failed to dent Obama's message, while her recast theme of solutions versus speeches failed to gain traction.
Republican Sen. John McCain, now the presumptive GOP nominee, also won in Wisconsin, beating former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Obama delivered a victory speech to a huge Houston rally, hitting issues ranging from taxes to foreign policy as if to answer charges that he is high on hope but thin on substance. Yet his sense that the presidency is within his grasp was unmistakable. "Houston, I think we've achieved liftoff here," he said to a roaring crowd.
The Democratic turnout numbers preview a daunting uphill climb for McCain. Obama's votes outran McCain's almost 3-1, while Clinton won 2 votes for every 1 that went to McCain, following a nationwide pattern..........
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