Obama, Clinton Both Tout Electability

Sen. Barack Obama predicted Wednesday that Republicans will have a dump truck full of dirt to unload on Hillary Rodham Clinton if the former first lady wins the Democratic presidential nomination, and said he offers the party its best hope of winning the White House this fall. Clinton countered that she did.

At a news conference on the morning after Super Tuesday, Obama offered some pointed advice to members of Congress and other party leaders who will attend the national convention this summer as delegates not chosen in primaries or caucuses.

He said if he winds up winning more delegates in voting than Clinton, they "would have to think long and hard about how they approach the nomination when the people they claim to represent have said, 'Obama's our guy,"' he said.

Clinton, in a later news conference at her campaign headquarters in Arlington, Va., said, "If voters start to think about who would be the best president, to be commander in chief on Day One, to turn the economy around and who would be the best Democratic nominee to win in November, I am very comfortable with the answers to those questions."

Obama won primaries and caucuses in 13 states on Tuesday, including his home state of Illinois. Clinton won eight states, including her adopted home state of New York. Obama and Clinton were in a tight race in New Mexico (Read more).

Obama won 803 delegates and Clinton won 799 delegates of the 1,681 delegates at stake Tuesday, according a CBS News tally as of Wednesday evening. Overall, Clinton leads the delegate count, 1,058 to 984. There are still several dozen delegates to be allocated from Tuesday's contests. Click here to get the latest delegate tally.

"I have to just respond by saying that the Clinton research operation is about as good as anybody's out there," he said.

"I assure you that having engaged in a contest against them for the last year that they've pulled out all the stops. And you know I think what is absolutely true is whoever the Democratic nominee is the Republicans will go after them. The notion that somehow Senator Clinton is going to be immune from attack or there's not a whole dump truck they can't back up in a match between her and John McCain is just not true."

Clinton said there's nothing in her past that she tries to play down or hide, including the years she worked as a corporate lawyer for a Little Rock, Ark., law firm. Her oft-cited 35 years of experience includes service "in the public, private and not-for profit sectors," she said.

As to the race between her and Obama, Clinton said, "This is a vigorous two-person contest now. And I think it's only just become a two-person contest in the last, what, 10 days or so. Therefore I am hoping we're going to have more debates, we're going to be able to showcase our records, our qualifications, the differences, the contrast between us, because voters are really tuning in now."

CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds reports that Clinton's campaign is pressing for at least four more debates, but that Obama has so far only committed to one. He said debates soak up time that he could spend on the trail.

Obama also suggested there were several areas in which he could do better than Clinton against the Republicans in the fall.

"I have no doubt that I can get the people who vote for Senator Clinton. ... It's not clear that Senator Clinton can get all the people I'm getting," he said.

Obama sought to claim the permanent underdog's role in the race, saying the New York senator is backed by a "political machine honed over two decades."

At the same time, he said the more he appears before voters, the better he does on primary days.

He said he intends to campaign in the states next up on the calendar - Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington vote on Saturday; Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia on Tuesday. Clinton said she, too, looked forward to the upcoming contests. Click here to view the upcoming campaign calendar.