Clinton loans own money to keep up with Obama

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

Republican John McCain, still facing conservative opposition, promised to unite his party as his coast-to-coast "Super Tuesday" wins in key states put him on the verge of clinching his party's nomination and capping a stunning political comeback.

Obama and Clinton battled to a draw on "Super Tuesday," with Obama winning 13 states and Clinton eight, including the big prizes of California and New York. Their delegate race also was almost even, propelling the fight toward the next round of seven Democratic contests in the next six days.

"I loaned it because I believe very strongly in this campaign," she told reporters at her campaign headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, a state that votes next Tuesday.

Both candidates touted their performances on Tuesday and tried to lower expectations for the next contests, even as they looked toward a protracted Democratic fight.

"But you know we're turning out to be a scrappy little team," he said. "I think we are less of an underdog than we were two weeks ago."

Under Democratic Party rules, delegates are proportioned by results state-wide and in individual congressional districts. This enables both candidates to roll up big delegate totals even in states they lose.

That increased the likelihood that the hotly contested Democratic race could last well into March contests in Texas and Ohio, an April contest in Pennsylvania and perhaps all the way to the party convention in late August.

Various counts put the Democratic race for pledged delegates in an essential deadlock. Obama led Clinton 838 to 834 in the MSNBC count, well short of the 2,025 needed to win the nomination.

All three of the senators in the presidential race -- Obama, Clinton and McCain -- returned to Washington on Wednesday to vote on an economic stimulus package in the Senate.

McCain, whose campaign was all but dead last summer, won nine states on Tuesday, including California and New York, giving him a huge haul of the convention delegates who select the party's presidential nominee.

The MSNBC count gave McCain 720 delegates, Romney 256 and Huckabee 194, pulling McCain closer to the 1,191 needed to clinch the nomination.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and wealthy venture capitalist who has spent at least $35 million of his own money on the race, has argued McCain lacks the conservative credentials to be the party nominee.

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Jeff Mason, Andy Sullivan, Donna Smith; Editing by Chris Wilson)