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Clinton keeps eyes fixed on March 4 primaries

ROBSTOWN, Texas — Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton labored to revitalize her restructured political operation Wednesday, testing a new line of criticism against presidential rival Sen. Barack Obama and voicing confidence in the face of challenging weeks ahead.

“I am in the solutions business,” she told more than 4,000 supporters in a packed fairgrounds here. “My opponent is in the promises business.”

A day after suffering lopsided losses in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, Clinton acknowledged Obama’s victories, but offered a taunt as well.

“I want to congratulate Senator Obama on his recent victories and tell him to meet me in Texas,” she told reporters in McAllen. “We’re ready.”

It was bravado talk for a candidate whose campaign has been staggered by defeats since the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday contests, who is behind in fundraising and who has reshuffled her campaign staff. Clinton is now looking to be competitive in the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday and then prevail in Ohio and Texas on March 4.

Campaign advisers said Wednesday that her fundraising was rebounding at a rate of $1 million a day online after Obama outraised her 2-to-1 in January. They predicted that her hunt for delegates to the national nominating convention would catch up to Obama on March 4 when Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont vote. The Clinton camp is especially counting on victories in Ohio and Texas.

Her history in Texas, her institutional support among Democrats in the state and an affinity for the Clinton name among Hispanics, one of her most loyal voting blocs, all attest to her firewall strategy in the state.

But a complicated delegate selection system, Obama’s momentum and erosion in Clinton’s traditional support coalition could deny her the kind of decisive win in the state she needs to reverse her post-Feb. 5 slide.

“You go on,” she said at a news conference. “Some weeks one of us is up and the other is down, and then we reverse it. … It’s a long and winding road.”

Following his Tuesday victories, Obama now has a 55-delegate lead over Clinton — 1,275 to 1,220, according to the Associated Press tally.

Clinton needs strong performances in Texas and Ohio to close the gap. Obama campaign manager David Plouffe told reporters in a teleconference call that Clinton would have to win both states by more than 20 percentage points. “And we certainly don’t see any evidence of that,” he said.

Clinton political and field director Guy Cecil said that after March 4 he expected the race will be in a virtual tie, with the candidates within 25 delegates of each other.

He said the campaign is opening offices and hiring staff in all remaining states that are left to vote, from Wyoming to Montana, Mississippi to Pennsylvania, and even in Puerto Rico.

Clinton wrapped up her tour of southern Texas late Wednesday, leaving out her toughest lines against Obama as she addressed a crowd of young supporters at San Antonio’s St. Mary’s University, but she still distinguished her can-do theme from his message of hope.