Hillary wins - but do the Democrats lose?
Updated on 05 March 2008
Obama's failure to beat Hillary Clinton in Ohio shows just how close the two are, but is the ongoing battle damaging the party as a whole?
The Republican nominee for president is, after last night, John McCain: but for the Democrats it's still wide open.
She was supposed to bow out after last night, instead Hillary Clinton won Ohio and Texas, the two states she had to win to stay in the race and now the heat is on Obama.
Can he find a way to combat Clinton's new hardball politics without undermining his message of inspiration and hope? So the fight goes on.
Senator Clinton won Texas and Ohio, two of the biggest states and Rhode Island, leaving Obama with just Vermont, and ending his consecutive winning streak.
The magic number of delegates needed to win the nomination outright is 2,025. With the latest results, Senator Clinton now has 1,175 pledged delegates and 16 states, including the bigger ones; Senator Obama has 1,307 and 24 states.
So even if Mrs Clinton wins all 12 remaining contests, and manages to get the disqualified delegates from Florida and Michigan included in the final count - she still can't overtake Mr Obama.
Which means it's the 794 'super' delegates at the party's convention in August who look set to make the final decision. The party's own polling shows them divided, with 238 currently backing Clinton, 194 for Obama, and more than 300 undeclared.
They'll decide who stands the best chance of beating John McCain for the main prize in November. Sarah Smith has been out and about amongst the Democrats, will this thing ever end?
Watch Sarah Smith's report
McCain becomes Republican candidate
John McCain becomes the Republican candidate to beat amassing the delegates he needs and a lunch at the White house.
Last year he was down - and almost out - but today the veteran Republican senator John McCain has been crowned his party's official nominee in the race for the White House.
President Bush was kept waiting for the chance to endorse his old sparring partner - he broke into a dance to entertain the press - before entertaining Mr McCain to a White House lunch.
Watch Jon Snow's report
