CHICAGO -– On the morning after Super Tuesday, as ballots were still being counted in some states and delegates were still being tripled-checked, Senator Barack Obama conceded -– reluctantly -– the term “underdog” may no longer be an apt description.

“We are less of an underdog than we were two weeks ago,” Mr. Obama told reporters here. “Two weeks ago, we were a big underdog, now we’re a slight underdog.”

In a news conference here today, Mr. Obama walked through the election results from the biggest day of the 2008 Democratic presidential race. He professed it to be an “extraordinary night,” but continued to assert that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton holds the advantages in the protracted fight for the nomination.

“I think the Clinton camp’s basic attitude was that the whole calendar was set up to deliver the knockout blow on Feb. 5,” Mr. Obama said. “And not only did we play them to a draw, we won more delegates and we won more states. What that means is that we are in a fierce competition and we’ve got many more rounds to fight.”

But Mr. Obama said most of that fighting would be done on the ground in the next voting states, not in debates. When asked whether he would accept the invitation from Mrs. Clinton to attend four more debates in the coming weeks, he laughed.



“I don’t think anybody is clamoring for more debates,” he said. “We’ve had 18 debates so far. I think we’ve had 10 more than we’ve had in the last Democratic contest.”

He said he would agree to at least one debate, but noted, “It’s very important for me to spend time with voters.”

As the Republican nominating fight appears far closer to reaching a conclusion, Mr. Obama said he was not concerned that the Democratic contest would soldier on.

“I think it would be a problem if Senator Clinton’s voters disliked me or my voters disliked Senator Clinton,” he said. “I don’t think that’s the case. I think our voters are passionate about bringing about change.”

His campaign strategists outlined a list of states they believe he holds advantages, beginning with Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington state, which have contests on Saturday. Next Tuesday, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia are strong for Mr. Obama, his aides believe, followed the next week by Wisconsin.

“We are in a fierce competition and we have many more rounds to fight,” Mr. Obama said. With a smile, he added: “We’re turning out to be a scrappy little team.”

In a 20-minute news conference at an airport hotel, before Mr. Obama flew back to Washington, he urged voters – and, more specifically, the party super delegates – to begin thinking about how Democrats would take on Senator John McCain of Arizona, the front-runner for the Republican nomination.

The race, he said, could turn on independent-minded voters.

“If you’ve got a lot of voters who are choosing between me and McCain, but not choosing between McCain and Senator Clinton, then we’ve got a problem,” Mr. Obama said. “And that’s part of what the super delegates are going to have to consider is who matches up best with a John McCain, who can appeal to independents in an effective way and who can even peel off some Republicans.”