Hillary 'running out of options'

Indianapolis, Indiana - A defiant Hillary Clinton vowed "full speed" ahead to the White House, but was fast running out of time and options after failing to cripple Barack Obama in their latest nominating clash.

Exit polls meanwhile suggested growing impatience at her attacks on Obama, as her mathematical path to the nomination narrowed still further after she eked out a cliffhanger win in Indiana, and took a thumping in North Carolina.

Clinton and former president Bill Clinton, like the consummate politicians they are, tried mightily to whip up an enthusiastic victory party here, conscious that any impression that she felt beaten would be devastating.

But the fact that Clinton was forced to declare victory in Indiana with the race still too close to call exposed the truth of her plight - the already long odds on her path to the nomination have lengthened significantly.

The former first lady took off from Indiana en route for Washington with her squeaker victory in the state yet to be confirmed.

Aides rushed down the aisle of her campaign plane brimming with relief as the aircraft approached Washington, after e-mails confirmed their earlier insistence that she had won a razor-thin victory in the midwestern state.

The former first lady's night was the exact opposite of the big win in Indiana and a close finish in North Carolina she needed to turn Obama's recent wobble into a tide of doubt about his prospects.

Her wistful victory speech was in stark contrast to her barnstorming style on the stump since her campaign saving win in Pennsylvania last month.

'It's full speed on to the White House'

"Well, tonight, we've come from behind," Clinton said, noting that Obama had once referred to Indiana as a tie-breaker in the gripping Democratic race.

"We've broken the tie, and thanks to you, it's full speed on to the White House," Clinton, 60, told supporters, who had come for a riotous victory party, but ended up watching a nail-biting struggle for survival.

Si Sheppard, a political science professor at Boston University, said the nature of Tuesday's results meant Clinton would face rising pressure to get out of the race for the good of her party.

And he added Obama's showing could spark more movement towards him by the top party officials, or superdelegates, who hold the destiny of the Democratic race in their hands.

"There will definitely be movement there," he said.

The Obama campaign predicted it would end the night with a net gain in delegates, and with six nominating contests to go, time has run out for Clinton to pull off the dramatic move which would turn the race on its head.

Her only hope now appears to be some kind of devastating blunder from Obama, which would force her party to turn back to her.

Exit polls in Indiana suggested 63% of voters thought Clinton had attacked Obama unfairly, while 67% thought so in North Carolina.

But Clinton aides said people trusted Clinton to be the candidate to fix the US economy and get US troops out of Iraq.

No quitting

That may suggest Democratic voters are losing patience with her continued presence in a race many analysts have concluded she cannot win.

But Clinton signalled again she would not quit.

"It is always the most laughable thing to me when pundits declare this race over," said Clinton spokesperson Jay Carson.

"This race has been declared over more times than I can even count. There have been pundits that wanted to end this race from the beginning.

"For all the math people have brought in, this is a very very close race. We continue to beat him in big states."

Even as voting went on on Tuesday, Clinton laid the groundwork for an attempt to take the nominating battle past the end of the primary calendar next month.

She argued that the finish line was 2 209 delegates, not the generally accepted figure of 2 025 to which the Obama camp is already counting down.

That includes delegates from Michigan and Florida, two contests which she won, but which were voided over a dispute about primary scheduling.

Clinton gave a glimpse into her mindset in a exchange with reporters on Monday night. She was talking about her plan for a moratorium on gasoline taxes, but could just have easily been laying out her whole political philosophy.

"Being in politics a long time, going back to years really in Arkansas, folks really respect it if you get up and fight, even if you can't, on the first, second or third time, get all the results you want."

Clinton will press home her claim, anchored on Obama's difficulty in wooing working class white voters, that only she can win states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, vital battlegrounds Democrats must claim to take the White House.

The Obama camp dismisses that argument as nonsense, saying whoever is the Democratic nominee will win those states.

- AFP