Obama and Clinton prepare for crucial contests

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were making a final bid to appeal to voters in Texas and Ohio tonight ahead of crucial contests which could decide the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.

The two rivals are fighting for the support of the 370 delegates which are at stake in the two pivotal states and two smaller contests in Rhode Island and Vermont.

Voters have been presented with a choice between the young Illinois senator’s inspirational message of change and hope and the former First Lady’s experience as they play an unusually significant role in deciding who will take the party’s nomination at this summer’s convention.

Both candidates have acknowledged that a split decision tonight and close votes could prolong their fierce battle for at least another month.

Senior Democratic Party officials have expressed concerns that this could undercut their chances of taking the White House in November.

Mr Obama, who will await tonight’s results in San Antonio, Texas, said: “We know this has been an extraordinary election. It continues to be. We’re working hard to do as well as we can.”

And in a sign that Mrs Clinton expects to remain in the race for a while yet, the New York senator told reporters: “I’m just getting warmed up.”

The former First Lady, who will watch the results come in from Columbus, Ohio, predicted a strong showing in the primaries and said she was looking ahead to Pennsylvania, which votes in seven weeks’ time.

Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, has said she must win both Texas and Ohio to keep her campaign alive, but her campaign advisers have changed the stakes in recent days, saying that if Mr Obama loses any of the four states tonight it would show voters were having second thoughts about him.

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe called today’s contests “the last big window of opportunity” for Mrs Clinton, adding that the “enormous leads” she enjoyed as recently as two weeks ago had dwindled or evaporated.

But he also acknowledged the battle was not over yet.

As the race intensified in the run-up to the pivotal day in the Democratic contest, Mr Obama was faced with allegations that he had overstated his opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico in a bid to win votes in economically troubled Ohio.

Mrs Clinton said the Obama campaign gave the Canadians “the old wink-wink” but Mr Obama insisted that “nobody reached out to the Canadians to try to assure them of anything”.

There were also questions about Mr Obama’s ties to Chicago businessman Antoin “Tony” Rezko as his trial got under way.

“Tony Rezko was a friend and supporter of mine for many years. These charges are completely unrelated to me, and nobody disputes that,” Mr Obama said.

In Ohio, Mrs Clinton also stressed she was more experienced than Mr Obama, who she portrayed as more talk than action.

She has also suggested he would need a “foreign policy instruction manual” to keep America safe as president.

The eventual winner of a primary season which has lasted much longer than most observers expected will be set to take on Mr McCain in November’s general election to become the leader of the free world.

Mr Obama would be the first African American US president, Mrs Clinton would be America’s first female president, and Mr McCain the oldest first term president, taking control of the Oval Office in January next year aged 72.

In the Democratic contest, today’s elections in Texas and Ohio will either see Mr Obama use momentum gained from 11 back-to-back victories since Super Tuesday last month to effectively end Mrs Clinton’s campaign or the former First Lady revive her presidential hopes.

Mr Obama has won every contest since the February 5 primaries, has raised record levels of financial support for his campaign and has been criticised by Mrs Clinton, Mr McCain and even president George Bush as he emerges as the Democratic frontrunner.

Polls have shown Texas to be a virtual dead heat and the outcome could depend on which campaign does a better job of getting supporters to the polls.

But the outcome may not be known immediately because of a complex system used to allocate delegates to candidates.

Known as the “Texas two-step”, two-thirds of the state’s delegates will be picked during a traditional primary election, with the final third depending on the results of a round of caucuses in 8,000 precincts.

Mrs Clinton is still holding on to her lead in Ohio polls, but the margin becomes less each day.

The former First Lady has presented herself as the candidate with the experience needed to take command on her first day in the White House.

Mr Obama, who has broadcast a message of change and hope for America across the US, has said he would have superior judgment when it came to key decisions.

In the race for the 2,025 delegates needed to be named the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee at this summer’s convention, Mr Obama has 1,383 while Mrs Clinton has 1,276, AP figures showed.