Hillary Rodham Clinton, fresh off big primary victories, hinted Wednesday at the possibility of sharing the Democratic presidential ticket with Barack Obama -- with her at the top. Obama played down his losses, stressing that he still holds the lead in number of delegates.

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In a night that failed to clarify the Democratic race, John McCain clinched the Republican nomination. Clinton won primaries in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island, halting Obama's winning streak. Obama won in Vermont.

Both Democrats insisted on Wednesday they had the best credentials to go head to head -- or as Clinton put it "toe to toe" -- against McCain.

Asked on CBS's "The Early Show" whether she and Obama should be on the same ticket, Clinton said:

"That may be where this is headed, but of course we have to decide who is on the top of ticket. I think the people of Ohio very clearly said that it should be me."

Obama, who had hoped to knock Clinton out on Tuesday, said he would prevail against a tenacious candidate who "just keeps on ticking." Clinton acknowledged the race was close and said it would come down to her credentials on national security and the economy.

The two presidential contenders made the rounds of the morning network television news shows.

Clinton won the big races in Ohio and Texas, as well as Rhode Island, to break her costly losing streak, and asserted, "This nation's coming back and so is this campaign." But Obama came away with a large share of delegates, too, in counting that continued Wednesday, meaning he's got a lead that's tough to overcome.

McCain's long-slog victory was a striking achievement in a party once wary of his famously independent ways, now his party to lead in the November election.

The Arizona senator won a final validation -- an invitation to the White House on Wednesday to receive the endorsement of President Bush, his nemesis in a past campaign, in a symbolic closing of the ranks.

No such unity came from the Democrats; instead, their crackling race was still on, and perplexing as ever.

"Boy, thank you Oh-HI-o," Clinton said in her victory speech. Obama won in Vermont.

Clinton won about 55 percent of the Ohio vote in nearly complete returns. She was winning just over half in the Texas primary.

She still faced a daunting task trying to overtake Obama in the remaining contests. It was questionable whether she would make up much ground once the final results were in and the complexities of allotting the 370 delegates at stake in the four states were ironed out.

"We have nearly the same delegate lead as we did this morning," Obama said, "and we are on our way to winning this nomination."

In the four-state competition for delegates, Clinton picked up at least 115, to at least 88 for Obama. Nearly 170 more remained to be allocated for the night, 154 of them in the Texas primary and the caucuses that immediately followed.

Obama took the lead in Texas caucuses before counting closed for the night -- 55 percent to 44 percent, with results in from 40 percent.

Obama had a total of 1,477 delegates, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates, according to the Associated Press count. He picked up three superdelegate endorsements Tuesday.

Clinton had 1,391 delegates. It takes 2,025 to win the nomination.

Wyoming offers 12 delegates in caucuses Saturday; Mississippi has 33 at stake next week. The biggest remaining prize is Pennsylvania, with 158 delegates, April 22.