Resolute, Clinton says: 'This campaign goes on!'

Portrays herself as champion of middle class

"It's time to get real about how we actually win this election," Senator Hillary Clinton said at Hunter College in New York City yesterday. "It's time that we move from good words to good works, from sound bites to sound solutions." (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign might be reeling after 10 consecutive losses, many of them blowouts, but she showed no signs yesterday of giving up as the Democratic race heads to showdowns in Ohio and Texas on March 4.

She gave a defiant speech at Hunter College in New York City, where she dismissed rival Barack Obama as leading a movement with little to show for his eloquence and promises. "It's time to get real about how we actually win this election," she declared. "It's time that we move from good words to good works, from sound bites to sound solutions. . . . This campaign goes on!"

Clinton portrayed his candidacy as a "campaign about a campaign," while casting herself as a champion of the middle class. "Others might be joining a movement. I'm joining you on the night shift, on the day shift," she said.

Obama hit back before another arena-size crowd of thousands, this one in Dallas, saying the choice in the race is not "between speeches and solutions."

"It's a choice between the politics of divisions and distractions that did not work in South Carolina, that did not work in Wisconsin, and that will not work in Texas - or a new politics of common sense, of common purpose, shared sacrifices, shared prosperity."

Meanwhile, a group of Democratic political strategists has assembled an organization that will raise money from wealthy donors and run advertisements promoting Clinton's views in Texas and Ohio. Called the American Leadership Project, the organization has been formed as a so-called 527 committee, which can raise unlimited amounts of money from some of Clinton's most deep-pocketed benefactors. By law, the group cannot coordinate its activities with Clinton, and Howard Wolfson, Clinton spokesman, said he was unaware of the group.

"We want to shine a light on issues that matter most to the nation's middle class - healthcare, freezing foreclosures, those sorts of things," said Roger Salazar, the new group's president. "Obviously Senator Clinton is a recognized champion on these issues."

But the Obama campaign immediately compared the group to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which Democrats believe unfairly questioned nominee John F. Kerry's war record in the 2004 race, and argued that it should have to register as a political action committee. That would limit it to raising contributions from individuals of $5,000 or less.

A 527 group financed by Obama supporters spent more than $1 million assisting Obama going into Super Tuesday.

Salazar said the American Leadership Project, which registered with the Federal Election Commission on Feb. 15, would file public reports listing its donors and its spending.

Salazar, national spokesman for John Edwards' 2004 presidential campaign, said the group intends to keep its message positive.

The existence of the group was first reported yesterday on the political blog of The Atlantic magazine. Clinton donors and political operatives have been discussing the possibility of such an outside group to help her campaign since she lost the Iowa caucuses in early January. The effort gained more attention as Clinton began to lose contests after the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday elections.

Obama is in an increasingly strong position after winning Tuesday's primary in Wisconsin and caucuses in Hawaii.

His camp said yesterday that he leads by 159 pledged delegates - those determined by the results of primaries and caucuses. Because Democratic delegates are awarded proportionately, Clinton needs to rack up big margins in Ohio and Texas and needs lopsided wins in nearly every other state left to vote to catch up, the Obama campaign said. "She'd have to win pretty much all the states, including states where we're favored," campaign manager David Plouffe told reporters yesterday.

The Clinton campaign did not sound confident yesterday that it can take back the lead among pledged delegates, but it hopes to get the nomination with "superdelegates." "We expect to narrow that gap substantially by the end of this process," Harold Ickes, senior adviser, said in a separate conference call.

According to an Associated Press tally, Obama leads 1,351 to 1,262 overall, but Clinton leads among committed superdelegates, 238 to 173.