Candidates race against clock

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama took their neck-and-neck battle to the U.S. West on Saturday while John McCain projected an air of inevitability about winning the Republican nomination ahead of crucial Super Tuesday voting.

Candidates crisscrossed the country to woo voters in the countdown toward the multi-state primaries and caucuses on February 5 that will go a long way toward establishing clear front-runners in both political parties.

Campaigning in Nashville, Tennessee, Arizona Sen. McCain told supporters he did not want to appear overconfident but was "guardedly optimistic" about Tuesday's voting.

"I assume I will be the nominee of the party," he said.

McCain's chief rival for the Republican nomination, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, said he was banking on a groundswell of conservative fear at the prospect of the more moderate McCain winning the nomination which he predicted would keep him in the race beyond Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters on a flight to Minneapolis, Romney admitted he was not the front-runner three days before Tuesday's showdown but that the past two days had seen the race crystallize.

"I don't think it's going to be over on Tuesday night," Romney said. I wish it were over in my favor, I hope it's not over against me," he said.

In incomplete results on Saturday from Maine's Republican caucus, Romney led McCain by 53 percent to 22 percent.

Speaking in Birmingham, Alabama, McCain played down concern some conservatives might oppose him, saying, "I can unite the party," he said. "I'm the most electable -- any poll will show you that -- against Senator Obama and Senator Clinton."

Leading in the polls in major states to vote on Tuesday, including California, New York and New Jersey, the Arizona senator was stopping in the capitals of Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia to argue his case.

McCain was sufficiently assured of his advantage over Romney to announce he will campaign on Monday in Massachusetts.

ROMNEY AT FUNERAL

Romney detoured earlier on Saturday from the campaign trail to attend the funeral of Mormon church leader Gordon Hinckley in Salt Lake City, drawing attention to his faith, viewed with skepticism by some conservative evangelicals.

If elected, Romney would be the first Mormon president.

Romney told reporters he would be making decisions in coming days about reassigning his staff in states where primaries were already over, but said no decisions had been made about downsizing his campaign.

"We really haven't had any discussion on that topic at this stage," he said.

Clinton, a New York senator who would be the first female president, appeared at rallies in East Los Angeles and Tuscon and fielded questions from young voters on a program organized by MTV and MySpace.

Asked during the MTV/MySpace event to differentiate herself from Obama, Clinton argued she would be more appealing to voters in the general election.

"It's really a choice between two of us and whom you think is best ready to lead our country -- if you're a Democrat, who is best able to win the election in November and I think I bring the strength and the experience to make the changes our country needs," she said.

Obama, who would be the first black president, campaigned in Boise, Idaho, a state that traditionally votes Republican and rarely sees a Democratic candidate.

On a flight from Idaho to Minnesota, Obama told reporters Clinton had an advantage going into Tuesday's vote because she was better known. Still, "I don't think that there is any doubt that we've made some progress," he said.

"When folks know me and my record, we do well. If they don't, she's got the advantages."

NECK AND NECK

Clinton and Obama, an Illinois senator, are locked in a neck-and-neck battle to represent the Democratic Party in the November 2008 election to succeed President George W. Bush. The pair split the first four significant nominating contests, with Obama winning Iowa and South Carolina and Clinton winning New Hampshire and Nevada.

Neither Clinton nor Obama is likely to land a knockout punch but one could emerge with a substantial lead in delegates after Super Tuesday when 24 states hold primaries or caucuses.

In the Republican contest, 13 Super Tuesday states award all their delegates to the winner, giving McCain an opportunity to cement his lead over Romney.

Romney told a rally in Minneapolis McCain was a fine man but his policies were more liberal than mainstream conservative. "I don't think we win the White House by getting as close to Hillary Clinton as we can be without being Hillary Clinton," he said.

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Philipp Gollner, Claudia Parsons and Jeff Mason; Writing by Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Todd Eastham)