View photos of the campaignOHIO
Clinton 55%
Obama 43%
votes counted: 92%
TEXAS
Clinton 51%
Obama 47%
votes counted: 91%
KEY POINTS:
Hillary Clinton staged a remarkable comeback today to win the Texas and Ohio Democratic primaries.
Clinton's triumphs this evening in the big two states voting today followed a win in Rhode Island earlier, breaking rival Barack Obama's month-long string of victories in the state contests to pick a candidate for the November US election.
The Illinois senator's streak had left Clinton trailing in the number of delegates to the summer convention that will pick the presidential candidate, and analysts said the New York senator needed to win Texas and Ohio to slow his momentum and have a chance of catching him.
The hard-fought Democratic presidential duel moves on to contests in Wyoming and Mississippi and the next major showdown in Pennsylvania on April 22, with Clinton still trailing Obama in the pledged delegates who will choose the nominee at the August convention.
"We're going on, we're going strong, and we're going all the way," Clinton, 60, told roaring supporters in Columbus, Ohio. "We're just getting started."
Exit polls showed Clinton won big among voters who decided in the last few days, when she questioned Obama's readiness to be commander in chief and the sincerity of his pledges to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, which is blamed in Ohio for manufacturing job losses.
Under Democratic rules allowing the losers in each state to win a proportional amount of delegates, Clinton must win many of the remaining contests by big margins to close the delegate gap behind Obama.
John McCain secured the Republican nomination earlier in the day.
LATEST UPDATES:
8.08pm: A separate caucus continues in Texas and Obama is faring better than in the primary, the BBC says.
7.54pm: The updated delegate count is Obama - 1466, Clinton - 1376, according to the Houston Chronicle.
7.13pm: Clinton projected to win Texas.
6.53pm: Both candidates are standing firm in their belief they will win the nomination:
Obama: "No matter what happens tonight, we have nearly the same delegate lead as we did this morning, and we are on our way to winning this nomination."
Clinton: "We're going strong. And we're going all the way!"
6.51pm: Clinton's lead in Texas remain 3%, with almost three-quarters of the votes now counted.
6.03pm: The Houston Chronicle describes Clinton's Ohio win as "ending a near politically fatal losing streak". It reports Obama saying he expects the race to continue on to Pennsylvania on April 22.
5.17pm: Clinton speaks to supporters in Columbus, Ohio. "Boy, thank you, Ohio," she says as the main networks project her winning the crucial delgate-rich state of Ohio.
"This is for everyone who stumbles but gets right up. This one is for you," she tells jubilant supporters.
"You know what they say....as Ohio goes, so goes the nation.
"Well this nation is coming back and so is this campaign."
4.55pm: CNN projects Clinton will win Ohio.
4.47pm: Texas is neck and neck at 50% all with more than a million votes counted. Clinton is still well ahead in Ohio but urban areas with large African American populations are yet to have their votes counted.
4.19pm: Clinton clearly ahead in Ohio with 36% of votes counted, 57% to 41%. In Texas the vote is closing up at Obama 50%, Clinton 48% but only 15% of votes have been counted.
3.39pm: Senator Hillary Clinton won the Rhode Island contest to chose a Democratic US presidential candidate on Tuesday, a tiny-state victory that broke Obama's string of 12 consecutive victories but did little to offset his growing lead, CNN projected.
A month-long string of 12 victories has catapulted Obama into front-runner status in the race and left Clinton needing victories in the big states of Ohio and Texas on Tuesday to be able to catch up with the Illinois senator in the race for delegates to the party's nominating contest this summer. - REUTERS
3.24pm: Obama up in Texas by 54% to Clinton's 45%.
3.19pm: Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee abandoned his US presidential bid on Tuesday after voting in four more state contests made it clear his rival, Arizona Senator John McCain, would be the Republican candidate in the November election.
"It's now important that we turn our attention not to what could have been or what we wanted to have been but what now must be, and that is a united party," Huckabee told supporters in at a Texas rally.
McCain has been the party's presumptive candidate since his leading rivals dropped out of the race, leaving only Huckabee to challenge him. Voting on Tuesday put McCain very close to winning the nomination. - REUTERS
3.18pm: Clinton ahead of Obama 60% to 38% in Ohio, CNN reports.
1.34pm: According to AP the economy was the number one worry for Democratic voters in Texas, Rhode Island and Ohio. In Vermont, it was the Iraq war that was their top concern.
1.23pm: Obama defeats Clinton in the Vermont primary. AP
1:03pm: CNN predicts Obama and John McCain will win the Vermont primaries.
1.00pm: First polls close in Ohio.
12.56pm: CNN say Clinton must win the Democratic contests in Texas and Ohio if she is to continue to compete with Obama.
12.51pm: The BBC suggests contests in Vermont and Rhode Island may prove crucial in such a tight race.
12.30pm: Clinton holds a two-to-one advantage over Obama with Hispanic voters in Texas, while Obama has the advantage with black voters according to CNN's exit poll.
10.00am: Voters still expected to show in high numbers despite bad weather in Ohio.
9.35am: Opinion polls show Clinton and Obama in close races in both Ohio and Texas.
8.10am: Turnout strong in Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island.
7.30am: Clinton says she is still confident of victory.
FACTBOX
Four states - Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island vote in US presidential candidates in party nominating contests today.
TEXAS
The Democratic vote is considered a must-win for Sen Hillary Clinton who is trying to stay alive in her fight against rival Sen Barack Obama while Sen John McCain is expected to easily win the Republican vote.
Voting ends in most of the state at 8pm EST (1400 Wednesday NZT) on Wednesday, with a tiny portion of the state finishing at 9pm EST.
Clinton's hopes in Texas rest heavily on her ability to win support from the large population of Hispanics, an estimated 8.3 million people.
Democrats will send 228 delegates to the national convention in August, the biggest single bloc remaining. Two-thirds of them are granted based on popular vote and one-third based on the outcome of caucuses held after the polls close on Tuesday.
It's the second most populous US state after California, with the third-largest state economy. Leading industries are trade, real estate and oil and gas.
Conservatives have dominated both political parties in Texas in recent years, and national security issues are key to voters. All the candidates have touted their foreign policy credentials in the run-up to Tuesday's vote.
OHIO
Another hotly contested state for the Democrats, considered a must-win for Clinton. McCain hopes to win the state to pull closer to clinching the Republican nomination.
Polls close at 1.30pm NZT. Both Republican and Democratic contests are open to independent voters.
White working-class voters make up a large share of Ohio's electorate where the focus is on the economy. The state has lost 23 percent of its manufacturing jobs since 2000 and the subprime mortgage crisis has hit hard, with foreclosures climbing 88 percent last year.
Trade issues and healthcare have been at the forefront of the campaign, especially among Democrats in a state with a high percentage of labour union members.
Ohio has been a swing state in presidential races, narrowly handing President George W Bush a re-election victory in November 2004.
Democrats picked up a number of statewide offices in 2006, including governor and a US Senate seat.
VERMONT
Polls close at 1.00pm NZT. Voters do not need to register as Republicans or Democrats to participate in either party's primary.
The state is known for its liberal politics, with Vermont attracting educated liberals willing to pay relatively high taxes to live in a pristine setting.
RHODE ISLAND
Polls close at 3pm NZT. Independents can vote in either the Republican or Democratic contest.
The smallest of the 50 US states, it has been one of the most Democratic states in the nation since the 1930s. Politically moderate Republicans have also fared well in the state.
- NZ HERALD STAFF, REUTERS
