Rep presidential nomination race sealed, Dem refreshed

by Wang Wei

WASHINGTON, March 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Republican presidential nomination race was sealed Tuesday with John McCain's victory and the Democratic contest was refreshed as Hillary Clinton regained her momentum.

Arizona Senator McCain swept all four Republican primaries and caucuses in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont, making his number of delegates exceed 1,191, enough to win the party's presidential nomination.

On the Democratic side, New York Senator Clinton beat Illinois Senator Obama in three states -- Rhode Island, Ohio and Texas, a result good enough to justify her stay in the race with the hope to overturn the lead.

Despite earlier speculation that losing the delegate-rich states of Ohio and Texas would virtually push Clinton's campaign to a dead end, the former First Lady, who is also a two-term Senator, proved her "comeback" ability for the third time after she surprisingly won the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 8 and the "Super Tuesday" full-scale race on Feb. 5.

However, it is too early to decide how far Clinton's campaign can go because she is still lagged behind of Obama by about 100 delegates.

When campaigning for his wife in Ohio, former President Bill Clinton told a rally that if she won Ohio and Texas, she would carry the success straightly to win the nomination convention.

However, CNN senior analyst Bill Schneider held a less optimistic view on this scenario, saying "if Clinton wins Texas and Ohio, it's game on until someone can figure out how to reach a majority of delegates," which may not happen until the nomination convention in late August.

Next major test for the Democratic candidates is set on April 22 in Pennsylvania, more than one month from now. Their verbal battle is expected to heat up over issues including health care insurance, trade policies and leadership.

Democratic national committee officials said last month that they might propose an arrangement to break the tie between the two candidates for fear that the long-term uncertainty on the presidential nomination race would further split the party and impair its competitiveness in the national elections.

McCain's candidacy will not be officially announced until the nomination convention in early September, but Republicans have started to unite the party and prepare for the November showdown.

McCain is expected to intensify his attacks on his Democratic rivals at every front.