Results Refocus Democratic Campaign

Obama returned to Chicago after a disappointing outcome Tuesday in which his winning streak was snapped at 12. Instead of driving Clinton from the race and shifting his focus to McCain, he found himself dragged back into an ever more contentious intraparty fight.

A rejuvenated Clinton predicted she would duplicate her Ohio success in Pennsylvania's April 22 primary and eventually win the nomination.

"I think Democrats took a hard look at John McCain, with his emphasis on national security, and then took a hard look at the two of us and concluded that I'm the best possible candidate to be commander in chief," she said on CBS's "Early Show." "They looked at the economy, and they see that I have a real economic blueprint, and they're not sure where either Senator McCain or Senator Obama stand when it comes to the economy."

In a round of morning television interviews, Clinton also raised the tantalizing prospect of a general-election ticket that would team the two rivals together. "That may, you know, be where this is headed," she said. "But, of course, we have to decide who's on top of the ticket. And I think that the people of Ohio very clearly said that it should be me."

Told of Clinton's comments, Obama said, "I think it is very premature to start talking about a joint ticket."

Obama campaign officials said that he would emerge with more Texas delegates despite losing the popular vote in the primary. They attributed that outcome to what they said would be his wide margin of victory in the state's precinct caucuses, which were held Tuesday night and accounted for one-third of the state's pledged delegates.

As of yesterday afternoon, the Associated Press put Obama's overall total, including pledged delegates and superdelegates, at 1,564 to Clinton's 1,463. Among pledged delegates only, Obama leads by 140.

Twelve contests, with 611 pledged delegates, remain. Obama is likely to end the primaries with a lead in pledged delegates. But neither candidate will be able to reach the 2,025 needed for the nomination, which means the Democratic race ultimately will be settled by the roughly 800 superdelegates -- elected officials and party leaders with automatic seats at the party's national convention.

The closeness of the delegate count and the likelihood of a protracted struggle brought back to the forefront the ticklish question of what the party will do about delegations from Michigan and Florida. The Democratic National Committee sanctioned both states for moving their primaries earlier in violation of rules and denied seating at the Denver convention in late August.

Yesterday, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) and Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm (D) issued a joint statement demanding that their delegations be seated at both conventions. Republicans stripped the states of half their delegates for similar violations.

Officials in both states indicated they are open to holding new contests to award delegates, although neither has submitted a formal plan to the Democratic National Committee. DNC Chairman Howard Dean, speaking on NPR's "All Things Considered," said that he would welcome such proposals but that simply seating the delegations is not an option.

"Changing the rules halfway through the game is incredibly unfair to both of those candidates and frankly would split the Democratic Party," he said, "so we're not going to do it."

Despite its relief that Clinton's delegate gains appear to be minimal, the Obama campaign was stung by the big losses in Ohio and Texas. Advisers plan to spend the next few days brainstorming ways to regain Obama's momentum. Out the window went plans for economic summits and foreign visits. Instead, the campaign braced for what could prove to be the most bruising phase of the battle yet.

"The core of our campaign has worked very, very well," Plouffe said. But he added: "We're obviously not going to let these attacks go unanswered."

He said Clinton has exaggerated her foreign policy experience, and he made it clear that Obama will go after her on the issue. He also made a veiled reference to Clinton administration scandals such as Whitewater. "We're surprised they would want to have an extended conversation about contributors and land deals and ethics issues," Plouffe said.

Murray, traveling with Obama, reported from Chicago.