The New Nation - Internet Edition

Agencies

US presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are battling to claim the Democratic momentum after neck-and-neck Super Tuesday polling.

Clinton said her campaign was "full speed ahead" after she clinched several big states in the biggest day of voting yet in the party nominations battle. Obama said there were "many more rounds to fight", but he was "less of an underdog" than he was two weeks ago.

Republican John McCain, now well ahead in his race, called for party unity.

Correspondents say Mr McCain now looks unbeatable, but the Democratic race could continue until the party convention in August where the nomination will be sealed.

Mrs Clinton said she was "very pleased" with her victories in eight states, including delegate-rich New York and California, in the Super Tuesday contests. Both she and Obama, who won 13 states, claimed to have had the edge in the day's results.

Clinton claimed to have won "most votes and most delegates", while Obama said he had clinched "most states and most delegates".

Saturday: Louisiana and Washington state (multi-party); Nebraska (Democratic); Kansas (Republican)

Sunday: Maine (Democratic)

Tuesday: Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC (multi-party) Party officials were still, however, carrying out the complex calculations that translate Tuesday's votes into numbers of delegates to back the respective candidates at the party convention.

Obama hailed an "extraordinary night" and a "big victory" for his campaign. "We feel confident that the wind is at our back," said Obama. "I have great confidence this campaign is gaining momentum every day." He said Clinton remained the favourite because of the enormous familiarity people have with her.

"But you know we're turning out to be a scrappy little team," he said. Clinton confirmed that she had loaned her campaign $5m of her own money, in order to be competitive against Obama, who had raised more money in the month of January.

Counting continues in one Democratic contest, New Mexico, where Clinton is in the lead. In terms of delegates captured, Clinton was only marginally ahead, under the Democrats' system of proportional distribution.

Both are still well short of the 2,025 delegates needed to secure the party's nomination.

Overall, voters were choosing 42% of delegates on Super Tuesday.

The BBC's North America editor Justin Webb points out that Clinton won in states such as New York, New Jersey and California that will be major Democratic targets in the presidential election in November.

In contrast, he says, Obama's wins were in states such as Georgia and North Dakota, which are not such key prizes, raising legitimate questions about the long-term viability of his campaign. McCain called for unity in the Republican party after a series of poll victories that correspondents say seriously wounded his main rival, Mitt Romney.

McCain enjoyed wins in the big states of California and New York, as well as Illinois, Oklahoma, New Jersey, Missouri, Connecticut, Delaware, and his home state of Arizona.

24 states holding simultaneous contests to help decide the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations About 40% of each party's delegates - who will choose the candidate - are up for grabs

Key states electing large numbers of delegates include California, New York and Illinois But five wins for former Baptist minister Mike Huckabee, who was polling a distant third but is popular with evangelical Christians, backed up the widely held view that McCain lacks support from conservatives in his own party.

Some key conservative figures have refused to vote for McCain in the presidential election if he wins the nomination.

Speaking on Wednesday, McCain said: ""I do hope that at some point we would just calm down a little bit and see if there are areas that we can agree on for the good of the party and for the good of the country."

Both McCain's rivals, Huckabee and Romney, have vowed to fight on.

Our correspondent says the presidential race is living up to its billing as the most unpredictable in living memory.

He says a Republican nominee may emerge earlier on, but one who lacks party support, to face two Democrats who both have enthusiastic party backing but could spend many more months fighting each other.