Clinton aides now insist losses in Texas and Ohio tomorrow will not force her to quit race

 Add your view

Desperate Hillary Clinton will stay in the White House race even if she loses tomorrow's pivotal primaries in Texas and Ohio, top aides claimed today.

The former First Lady had staked her political future on wins – with even her husband, former President Bill Clinton, saying she would drop out if she lost the make-or-break contests.

But, as rival Barack Obama closed in on Mrs Clinton's once formidable leads in the two states, her spin machine has changed their tune and insisted she would not give up.

Scroll down for more

Neck and Neck: Hillary Clinton will stay in the race if Barack Obama wins tomorrow

Her chief strategist, Mark Penn, said: "There are 16 remaining contests after Tuesday.

"There's nothing wrong with letting the people in the remaining jurisdictions have their say."

And Mrs Clinton's communications director Howard Wolfson, insised "onus" was on Obama to win Texas and Ohio as well as the tiny states of Vermont and Rhode Island which are also holding primaries.

The latest polls show Clinton retains a small lead in Ohio of just four per cent – but the margin has been continually narrowing.

And In Texas, where the New York senator once enjoyed a double-digit lead, her advantage has all but vanished and the race is now seen as a dead heat.

Some polls claim Mr Obama, the Illinois senator who currently holds a 112-delegate lead following an impressive 11 wins in a row, is even ahead by four points in the Lone Star state.

Victories in Texas and Ohio – with 228 and 161 delegates respectively on offer – would give him an unstoppable advantage in his bid to become the Democrat candidate and America's first black president.

And it was previously thought that if Mrs Clinton lost she would then step down in a bid to heal rifts within the party and allow her rival to battle head-to-head with likely Republican candidate John McCain.

Mr Clinton himself had suggested his wife would drop out after a loss, saying last month: “If she wins Texas and Ohio, I think she will be the nominee. “If you don't deliver for her then I don't think she can be."

It has been feared that staying in the race would spark a donor revolt and defections by exhausted aides, culminating with superdelegates asking her to quit for the good of the party.

"They are going to have a very hard choice to make after Tuesday if she loses Texas or Ohio," Mr Obama's top adviser David Axelrod said. "There are people in the party who are very concerned about this turning into some kind of a Bataan Death March."

But the don't-quit camp is also taking solace from a rejuvenated fundraising operation that is now competitive with Obama's.

The campaign broke its one-month cash record in February, raising more than $30 million in small online donations after Clinton announced she loaned her campaign $5 million.

• Post this story to:
• Digg
• Reddit
• Del.icio.us
• Facebook

What is this?

Email a friend

Print this page

Receive our newsletter