Clinton loans $5 million to campaign

Hillary Rodham Clinton has loaned millions of dollars to her presidential campaign.

Hillary Rodham Clinton has loaned millions of dollars to her presidential campaign.

In a sign of rival Barack Obama's growing financial advantage in the race for the Democratic nomination, Mrs Clinton acknowledged yesterday that she loaned her campaign $5 million (€3.4 million) late last month as her rival was outraising and outspending her heading into "Super Tuesday".

Some senior staffers on her campaign also are voluntarily forgoing pay cheques as the campaign heads into the next round of contests.

"And I think the results last night proved the wisdom of my investment," the former first lady said, one day after splitting victories with Mr Obama.

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

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

Mr McCain is attempting to convince his harshest Republican critics who are angered that he breaks with party-line conservative views 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.

Nearly complete delegate returns from coast-to-coast races on Tuesday left Mr McCain with 707 delegates, nearly 60 per cent 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, despite speculation among Republicans that he would withdraw.

Mike Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, won contests in the south, where his appeal to Christian conservatives undermined Mr Romney's support. Mr Romney had 294 delegates; Mr Huckabee, 195; and Texas Rep Ron Paul, 14.

On the Democratic side, Mrs Clinton had 1,045 delegates, to 960 for Mr Obama, out of the 2,025 needed to secure victory at the party convention in August.