Hillary Rodham Clinton sidestepped political disaster Tuesday night, winning the Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island primaries.

In Lorain County, Clinton  took 36,138 votes, or 57.4 percent of the total, to take away the county from her opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., according to unofficial elections returns.

Obama took 25,706 votes, or 40.8 percent of the vote, while former vice presidential candidate John Edwards, who dropped out of the race long ago, took 1,147 votes, or about 1.8 percent of the vote.

Statewide, Clinton defeated Obama by a margin of 55 percent to 43 percent with about 92 percent of precincts reporting.

County Commissioner Lori Kokoski, who voted for Clinton, said her campaign stop in Lorain last week could have provided the final push in capturing the county.

“I think coming here pushed her over the top,” Kokoski said. “I don’t want to speculate about the race, but I have a feeling she’s going to do it.”

Clinton led a campaign rally last Tuesday at Lorain Admiral King High School, and was joined by Lorain Mayor Tony Krasienko, who had endorsed the senator the day before.

Obama also made a stop in Lorain, albeit a quiet one, at a local factory, but it apparently wasn’t enough to win the support of the county’s voters.

Lorain Democratic Party Chairman Anthony Giardini voted for Obama, and said the outcome of the primary surprised him.

“I’m not surprised ( Clinton) won Ohio, but I am surprised by the margin,” he said.

Giardini said Clinton’s ability to secure the endorsement of Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland early in the election helped her tremendously.

He added that her win could give her the advantage going into the Democratic convention—where she’ll rely on the relationships with superdelegates that she’s developed throughout her political career. The superdelegates could make the crucial decision on who will be the party’s nominee and face Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona in the November election.

“I think it’s going to be a brokered convention,” he said. “These superdelegates are going to make a difference now.”

Clinton’s victories marked the latest twist in a wildly unpredictable primary season — and snapped a 12-state, 29-day losing streak. The victories gave her campaign much needed momentum, even though they will do relatively little to cut into Obama’s 100-plus delegate lead.

“For every one who has ever been counted out but refused to be knocked out, for every one who has stumbled but has stood right back up, this one’s for you!” a jubilant Clinton as supporters showed “Yes we can!” in a Columbus ballroom.

“As Ohio goes, so goes the nation,” she added. “We’re going on, we’re going strong and we’re going all the way.”

Clinton started cutting into Obama’s growing lead in delegates earlier in the evening when she broke her 29-day, 11-contest losing streak by winning the Rhode Island primary.

But Obama, who has enjoyed one of the great hot streaks in modern political history, matched her, breezing to a 2-to-1 win in Vermont. Despite the loss, Obama advisers declared he’d win the nomination, claiming that the likelihood of her erasing his 100-plus lead in delegates is now nearly impossible with only 12 contests remaining.

The polls showed late-deciding voters in both states breaking strongly for Clinton, reversing recent trends — and possibly indicating that Clinton’s attacks on Obama’s national security record and his positions on NAFTA are taking hold.

Clinton lost most regions of Ohio to Obama but she dominated in the heavily industrialized northeast, an area of white, blue-collar, heavily Catholic towns and cities.

Advisers to Clinton said nothing in Tuesday’s returns would cause her to reconsider her campaign. One described her as “hell-bent” to fight on through the April 22 Pennsylvania primary regardless of the outcome in Texas.

“It’s a long road to the nomination and I feel really good right now,” she told reporters during an early morning stop at a polling station in an Hispanic section of Houston. “This is one of the most civil and positive primary campaigns I can remember.”

Clinton is planning rallies in Philadelphia and possibly Pittsburgh on Thursday, according to sources in her campaign.

Sleet and freezing rain in northern Ohio prompted a judge to order 15 predominantly black precincts around Cleveland to stay open for an additional 90 minutes. Clinton aides saw the move as helping Obama, who was winning the state’s African-American vote by 85 percent to 15 percent, according to exit polls.

Voting in Texas, which has a complicated primary-caucus hybrid system, went smoothly at first amid huge turnout. But the caucuses, which used to select 35 percent of the state’s delegates, were marred by delays and late Tuesday the Clinton campaign accused Obama workers of illegally pre-registering caucus-goers in eight precincts.

An upbeat Clinton began a day of campaigning in Texas, where she courted Hispanic voters in Houston and at a Mexican restaurant in Dallas. Exit polls showed her with a two-to-one advantage among Lone Star State Hispanics — although Obama bested her among Latinos age 18 to 29.

For a third consecutive day, a combative Clinton rebuffed calls by Obama supporters and some party elders to pledge to drop out of the race if she failed to scored decisive wins Tuesday. She was buoyed by an ABC News poll showing that Americans supported her remaining in the race by a two-to-one vote, provided she won either Texas or Ohio.

“Never underestimate the intelligence of the voters,” she said.

 

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