Clinton reaches into purse to pay campaign

Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama girded themselves for more fierce battles in their tight race for the Democratic presidential nomination, as Clinton disclosed she lent millions of dollars to her presidential campaign to fuel the costly White House fight.

Republican Senator John McCain, meanwhile, reached out to his conservative critics with an appeal on Wednesday to find "something we can agree on" as he focused on translating his big "Super Tuesday" wins into the party's presidential nomination.

In a sign of Obama's growing financial advantage, Clinton acknowledged on Wednesday that she loaned her campaign US$5 million late last month as Obama was outraising and outspending her heading into the Democrats' 22-state contests on Tuesday.

Some staffers on Clinton's campaign are also voluntarily forgoing paychecks as the campaign heads into the next round of contests.

"And I think the results last night proved the wisdom of my investment," Clinton said.

McCain's of races in California, New York and seven other US states failed to end chief rival Mitt Romney's candidacy, but firmly put the senator on track for the party's White House nomination.

McCain on Wednesday to smooth his path by attempting to convince his harshest Republican critics who are angered that he breaks with the conservative party line on issues such as immigration.

"I do hope that at some point we would just calm down a little bit and see if there are areas that we can agree on for the good of the party and for the good of the country," he said, addressing right-wing pundits who argue he is too liberal for the party.

Nearly delegate returns from coast-to-coast races on Tuesday left McCain with 707 delegates, nearly 60 percent of the 1,191 needed to win the nomination at the convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, this summer. That was far ahead of his rivals.

Even so, Romney said he would stay in the race.

Romney 294 delegates; Mike Huckabee had 195 and Texas Representative Ron Paul had 14.

On the Democratic side, Clinton and Obama split the spoils in their Tuesday contests, tightening an already close race.

Clinton in eight key races, including the most valuable, California and New York.

Obama, however, was close behind with wins in at least 13 of the 22 states that held Democratic contests on Tuesday, and he has fresh momentum as the race moves into territory where he would seem to have an edge.

The Democratic delegate count lagged because of party rules that award delegates proportionally rather than the winner-take-all approach that Republicans use in some states.

Clinton 1,045 delegates, to 960 for Obama, out of the 2,025 needed to secure victory at the party convention in August.

Delegates to be allocated included 25 in New Mexico, where Democratic voting remained too close to call.

The Illinois senator campaigned on Wednesday as the Democrat tough enough to withstand Republican attacks in the general election, arguing Wednesday that he has been tested by his hard-driving rival's campaign.

Buoyed strong fundraising and a primary calendar this month that plays to his strengths, Obama plans a campaign blitz through a series of states holding contests this weekend and will compete to win primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the Washington area next week and Hawaii and Wisconsin the following week.

Clinton concentrate on Ohio and Texas, large states with primaries March 4 and where polling shows her with a significant lead.