For Clinton, Ohio and Texas Emerge as Key States to Win
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and her advisers increasingly believe that, after a series of losses, she has been boxed into a must-win position in the Ohio and Texas primaries on March 4, and she has begun reassuring anxious donors and superdelegates that the nomination is not slipping away from her, aides said Monday.Mrs. Clinton held a buck-up-the-troops conference call on Monday with donors, superdelegates and other supporters; several of them said afterward that she sounded tired and a little down, but determined about Ohio and Texas. And these donors and superdelegates said that they were not especially soothed, saying they believed she could be on a losing streak that could jeopardize her competitiveness in Ohio and Texas.
“She has to win both Ohio and Texas comfortably, or she’s out,†said one Democratic superdelegate who has endorsed Mrs. Clinton, and who spoke on condition of anonymity to share a candid assessment. “The campaign is starting to come to terms with that.†Campaign advisers, also speaking privately in order to speak plainly, confirmed this view.
As a guy on “the other side of the aisle” let me say I don’t fear Hillary. If she wins the democratic vote we can beat her with McCain. But, if Obama wins, McCain will be defeated.