March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Hillary Clinton triumphed in the crucial Ohio and Texas presidential primaries, television networks projected, blunting the momentum of rival Barack Obama and extending the race for the Democratic nomination.

Republican John McCain secured his party's presidential nomination as Mike Huckabee conceded after losing primaries yesterday in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island.

Clinton, a New York senator, last night proclaimed a revival for her campaign. Obama, an Illinois senator who won 12 of the last 15 nominating contests, focused on his lead in delegates and said his edge would hold.

``This looks like a real race again,'' said Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Clinton's margin of victory in Ohio -- about 12 points - - was ``a real surprise, and beating expectations is worth a lot in presidential nominations,'' he said.

Before yesterday's votes, Obama had at least 1,129.5 pledged delegates, according to an unofficial tally by the Green Papers, a non-partisan Web site tracking the campaign. That gave him a lead over Clinton of 119 delegates; a candidate needs 2,025 to gain the nomination.

The four states holding presidential primaries yesterday had a total of 370 pledged delegates at stake for the Democrats, mostly awarded proportionally based on votes. Texas Democrats had a combination primary and caucus.

Clinton in Columbus

Clinton, speaking to supporters in Columbus, Ohio, last night before the Texas race was called by CNN and NBC trumpeted her win in Ohio, a state that is critical for both parties in the general election.

``As Ohio goes, so goes the nation,'' said Clinton, 60. ``This nation's coming back, and so is this campaign.''

Obama, in San Antonio, told a cheering crowd that his campaign would come out of the evening with about the same delegate lead as it had at the beginning of the day.

``We are on our way to winning this nomination,'' he said.

The results in the Republican race were widely expected, as Huckabee trailed McCain, an Arizona senator, by hundreds of delegates before yesterday's vote. Huckabee, 52, a former Arkansas governor, conceded defeat to McCain at a rally in Irving, Texas, and pledged to help unite the Republican Party.

`Honorable Man'

``I extended to him not only my congratulations, but my commitment to him and to the party to do everything possible to unite our party,'' Huckabee said. ``Senator McCain has run an honorable campaign because he's an honorable man.''

McCain, 71, plans to travel to Washington today to receive the endorsement of President George W. Bush at the White House. The president is scheduled to have lunch with McCain before making a statement with him.

McCain, who lost to Bush when he ran for president in 2000, said he was now prepared to take on the nomination ``with confidence, humility and a sense of great responsibility.''

With 85 percent of precincts reporting, Obama had 60 percent of the vote in Vermont compared with 38 percent for Clinton. In Rhode Island, Clinton led with 58 percent to Obama's 40 percent, with 98 percent of precincts reporting.

Obama, 46, and Clinton have focused their efforts on Ohio and Texas over the past week, campaigning on the economy in Ohio and national security in Texas.

With 86 percent of precincts reporting, she led with 55 percent of the vote in Ohio compared with 43 percent for Obama.

Texas Tally

In Texas, with 77 percent of precincts reporting primary results, Clinton had 51 percent of the vote and Obama had 47 percent. Obama led in caucuses held after the primary vote, with 56 percent to Clinton's 44 percent, with 5 percent of precincts reporting.

Traveling through Texas yesterday, Obama said he expected Clinton would press on with her bid for the nomination even though ``we've got a very sizable delegate lead that's going to be hard to overcome.''

The Clinton campaign came into yesterday aiming for wins to stop Obama's momentum. If no candidate gets enough delegates allocated by elections, the nomination will depend on the votes of the 795 superdelegates, Democratic Party officials and officeholders who aren't bound by election results.

Clinton says she is ready for a long fight extending to states such as Pennsylvania, which votes on April 22.

``We're going on, we going strong and we're going all the way,'' Clinton said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kristin Jensen in the Washington newsroom at kjensen@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: March 5, 2008 01:10 EST