Clinton Touts Wins; Obama Downplays Performance

By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 5, 2008 3:27 PM

Buoyed by primary victories in three states last night, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) presented herself today as the Democrat most likely to defeat the Republican nominee for president in November and raised the prospect of joining forces with Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) -- as her vice presidential running mate.

Making the rounds of the morning television news shows following her victories in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island, Clinton attributed her revitalized candidacy to an assessment by Democratic primary voters that she would be better able than Obama to take on Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).

McCain, who sealed the GOP nomination last night with wins in the three states plus Vermont, went to the White House today for lunch with President Bush, who formally endorsed him afterward in a joint appearance in the Rose Garden. Bush hailed his former rival for showing "incredible courage and strength of character and perseverance" in reviving a formerly moribund campaign.

"He's going to be the president who will bring determination to defeat an enemy and a heart big enough to love those who hurt," Bush told reporters with McCain standing by his side. McCain said he hoped that Bush would campaign for him and help with fundraising "as much as possible . . . in keeping with the president's heavy schedule."

The Arizona senator declined to discuss the possibilities in choosing a running mate, avoiding the question of whether Republicans should pick a woman or a minority in view of the fact that the Democratic presidential candidate will be either a woman or an African American. MCain said it had not been appropriate to consider vice presidential choices before securing the nomination, and "now we'll begin that process."

Asked on the CBS "Early Show" about Democrats who want to see her and Obama on the same ticket, Clinton said: "Well, that may, you know, be where this is headed. But, of course, we have to decide who's on top of the ticket."

She added: "And I think that the people of Ohio very clearly said that it should be me. And after all, no one in recent history has won the presidency who did not win their party's primary in Ohio."

Obama, who also appeared on the morning shows, played down his losses, pointing out that he still leads in the number of states won, in the total popular vote in the nominating contests and in the all-important count of delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

He declined to discuss the prospect of joining forces with Clinton, telling reporters before flying from San Antonio to Chicago that it was "very premature to start talking about a joint ticket."

"Senator Clinton is tenacious, and she keeps on ticking," Obama said on ABC's "Good Morning America." But given his 12 consecutive victories through Vermont last night, he said, "I think it's going to be very hard for her to catch up on the pledged delegate count." He also said Clinton's lead in unpledged superdelegates has narrowed "drastically" in recent weeks. "So I think that we'll be in a very strong position to claim the nomination."

In yesterday's primaries, Clinton easily beat Obama in Rhode Island with 58 percent of the vote, won Ohio by 54 percent to 44 percent and held on to take Texas by 51 percent to 47 percent. Obama handily won in Vermont by 60 percent to 38 percent.

In Texas, the biggest prize of the night in terms of delegates, Obama was leading Clinton this morning in the results of last night's Democratic caucuses, which followed the primary voting in a system dubbed the "Texas two-step." The Texas primary allocates 126 delegates, and the follow-on caucuses account for 67. In addition, the state will send 35 unpledged delegates to the national convention, for a total of 228 delegate votes.

In its latest tally of total delegates, the Associated Press reported today that Obama leads Clinton by 1,562 to 1,461, a count that includes unpledged superdelegates. Despite her victories last night, Clinton has cut Obama's lead in delegates by only 12, with 12 more delegates yet to be awarded from the contests, AP said. At the national convention, 2,025 delegate votes are needed to secure the nomination.

In a talking-points memo today to surrogates who are speaking for Clinton, the New York senator's campaign argued that "the primary process must continue" and stressed the legitimacy of the unpledged superdelegates, which it called "automatic delegates." Those delegates, mostly Democratic elected officials and prominent party members, are free to vote for whomever they wish at the national convention.

"Both campaigns agree that automatic delegates will determine the nominee," the Clinton campaign's talking-points memo said. "There is no difference between pledged delegates and automatic delegates. We plan on gaining pledged delegates and closing the Obama camp's lead by the end of the nominating process. When it comes to pledged delegates, we'll be competitive."

The memo also said that "the campaign has fundamentally shifted in Hillary Clinton's direction" and forecast an "upswing as the campaign now heads into Pennsylvania," a delegate-rich state that is holding its Democratic primary on April 22.

Obama said on the morning talk shows that he is not worried about losing the nomination because of the superdelegate count.

"I think that most Democrats are going to feel like whoever has won the most delegates in these primaries and caucuses will end up being the nominee," he said on NBC's "Today" show. "That's why we have primaries and caucuses. Otherwise, the superdelegates could just go into a smoke-filled room and make those decisions."

Obama also expressed confidence about his chances in two states that hold nominating contests before Pennsylvania: Wyoming and Mississippi. He is expected to do well in both.

As a result of yesterday's primaries, "the pledged delegate count barely changed," he said on the CBS "Early Show." He added, "We still have what is close to an insurmountable lead in terms of winning pledged delegates."

Obama played down the significance of his failure to win big states such as California, New York, Ohio and Texas, pointing out that he has come out on top in Missouri, Georgia, Wisconsin and his home state of Illinois.

The Clinton campaign argued, however, that she is "better positioned to carry the battleground states that Democrats need to win in November." It asserted that Obama's primary and caucus victories in a number of "core Republican states" would not count for much in the presidential election.

At the White House, Bush welcomed McCain and his wife, Cindy, at the North Portico, then clapped the Arizona senator on the back as he escorted him inside for lunch in the president's private dining room.

McCain has been the presumptive GOP nominee for weeks, but his victories in yesterday's primaries put him over the threshold of delegates needed to secure the nomination and prompted former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee to call off his long-shot candidacy.

McCain and Bush have had policy differences and were bitter rivals when both ran for the GOP nomination in 2000, but today they showed a united front. In their joint news conference after lunch, Bush and McCain were asked repeatedly whether Bush's support would help or hurt the candidate on the campaign trail in view of the president's low job-approval ratings. McCain insisted that he would feel "very privileged" to have Bush campaign for him.

Bush, who appeared to be in an ebullient mood, responded: "Look, if my showing up and endorsing him helps him, or if I'm against him and it helps him, either way, I want him to win." In any case, Bush said, "they're not going to be voting for me. I've had my time in the Oval Office. . . . It's not about me. You know, I've done my bit."

On the issue of choosing a vice president, Bush told reporters: "People don't vote for vice presidents, as much as I hate to say that, for those who have been candidates for vice president. They're going to vote for who gets to sit inside that Oval Office and make decisions on how to protect the country and keep taxes low, and how to have a culture that respects the dignity of every human being."

In response to another question, Bush said every candidate is expected to portray himself as an agent of change.

"And the good news about our candidate is there will be a new president, a man of character and courage, but he's not going to change when it comes to taking on the enemy," Bush said. "He understands this is a dangerous world."