At the end of a debate with Obama on Thursday, New York Senator Clinton had said “Whatever happens, we’ll both be fine.”  This was seen by many as the former first Lady having doubts about her own campaign and in its ability to bag the big ticket states of Ohio and Texas scheduled for their political showdown on March 4.

However, she downplayed her remarks and made it known that she is indeed serious about Ohio and Texas. “I intend to win, obviously. I’m working very hard. And Ohio and Texas are critical states,” she said in a media interview.

The Hillary campaign knows well that she must get Ohio and Texas to stay meaningful in the Democratic race and even former President Bill Clinton had said recently that if his wife “does not bag these two states, she is toast”.

The argument is being made that Senator Obama runs very strong among the Independent voters and Republicans may enter the fray in the Democratic primaries just to vote against Senator Clinton.

The conventional wisdom is that neither Obama nor Clinton is going to be able to bag the 2025 delegates by the time the last primary is out of the way in Puerto Rico on June 7, 2008. And hence a heavy emphasis on what the Super Delegates may or may not do.

Meanwhile on the Republican front the presumptive nominee John McCain appears to have shaken off a brief but bad publicity involving a 40-year-old communications lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, that had sexual overtones.