Reuters: Obama and Clinton neck and neck 04 March

By beating Barack Obama in three out of four Democratic primaries-- Clinton stopped Obama's 12 state winning streak and gave a much-needed boost to her campaign. Jon Decker reports.

Obama is riding a wave of momentum from a sweep of the mid-Atlantic primaries this week. The delegate rich states of Texas and Ohio hold their primaries on March 4th.

Former First Lady Hillary Clinton's hopes of securing the Democratic presidential nomination are riding on a strong showing in Tuesday's primaries in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont. AFPTV looks at the race in Ohio, where Clinton is clinging to a narrow lead in the polls over Barack Obama.

The Ohio and Texas primaries are seen widely as a make or break scenario for Clinton's candidacy. Even Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, has said she needs to win both states to continue her campaign, a view shared by many analysts. Polls show tight races in both.

Among Republicans, John McCain holds substantial double-digit leads over Mike Huckabee in both Ohio and Texas. McCain could come close to clinching the Republican nomination with big wins in both states. Jon Decker reports.

Obama -- whose name was not on the original ballot in Michigan -- holds over a 150 delegate lead in the overall race, and has remained relatively silent on the issue. Michigan Party leaders say the proposal to hold a revote is stalled and unlikely to be approved before this week's deadline. Florida Democrats have all but abandoned efforts to vote again. Katharine Jackson reports from Washington.

On the Republican side, Super Tuesday's elections put John McCain -- who won nine primaries-- including New York, California, Missouri and Illinois-- well on his way to his party's presidential nomination. Jon Decker reports.

Most of Obama's wins have come in caucuses...contests in which a smaller amount of voters gather at a specific time -- and in some cases make their choice known publicly. With the exception of her narrow win in the Nevada caucuses, all of Clinton's victories have been in primaries -- with larger numbers of voters making their choice known in the privacy of a voting booth. Jon Decker reports.

Obama trounced his Democratic rival, taking 61 percent of the vote to Clinton's 37 percent. Exit polls showed that about 90 percent of African-Americans backed Obama, who is trying to become America's first black president. The victory in Mississippi extended Obama's lead over Hillary Clinton in pledged delegates to the August nominating convention. The next big showdown is in Pennsylvania in six weeks time. With 158 delegates at stake, it's the biggest single-state haul remaining in the race for the nomination.