COLUMBUS: On a night when she badly needed a victory, in a state vital to her cause, Hillary Rodham Clinton managed to keep her presidential campaign alive Tuesday, taking a sharply contested Ohio from Barack Obama.

Clinton won Ohio's Democratic primary 56 percent-42 percent, according to early returns.

Appearing before a packed ballroom in the stately Columbus Athenaeum club, Clinton took the stage shortly after 11 p.m. in a cloud of confetti, introduced by Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, former Sen. John Glenn and Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones.

''Thank you, Ohio!'' she said. ''Everyone here in Ohio who's ever been counted out but refused to be knocked out . . . for everyone who works hard and never gives up — this one's for you.

''You know what they say: As Ohio goes, so goes the nation. Well, this nation's coming back, and so is this campaign.''

Clinton, Democratic challenger Obama and Republican nominee John McCain each were the subject of spirited gatherings in the capital of what once again has proven itself a key state in national politics. The outcome in Ohio's Democratic race has, for weeks, been considered a determining factor in whether Clinton could stay in the race. On the Republican side, a McCain victory in Ohio was enough for Mike Huckabee to concede the race.

In a city with politics as its lifeblood, television satellite trucks were parked bumper to bumper along the block surrounding the Athenaeum, with dozens of cameras filling a two-tiered riser and a long balcony as hundreds of supporters held blue ''Hillary'' signs, bobbing in unison. Upstairs, a rhythm and blues band played, at one point leading the crowd in an O-H-I-O chant.

A large screen showed CNN's election coverage, with early results bringing big cheers from the crowd. At around 9:30 p.m., when the national network declared Clinton the winner of the Rhode Island primary 60 percent-38 percent in early returns, the crowd erupted, the cheer morphing into a chant of, ''Yes she will!''

Ohio once again found the modifier ''battleground'' attached to its name in a presidential race, as the two Democratic candidates crisscrossed the Buckeye State for the latter half of February, stumping right up until Tuesday. Greatly outspending his opponent, Obama narrowed Clinton's lead from more than 20 points around Valentine's Day to four, employing a media blitz that linked his opponent to the North American Free Trade Agreement while emphasizing his message of hope and change.

Clinton waged her own campaign war, going after Obama on the television airwaves with a stern commercial challenging his experience by asking voters to decide whom they would want answering the White House emergency phone at 3 a.m.

Obama and Clinton played to their demographic strengths. Once again, her support was strongest among women, white men, blue-collar workers and the elderly. He drew votes fromAfrican-Americans, college-educated males and voters under 45.

Party for Obama

The columned and wood-paneled old-Columbus vibe of the Clinton and McCain gatherings contrasted sharply from the party for relative newcomer Obama, held at the Buckeye Hall of Fame, a shrine of sorts to Ohio State sports teams several miles north of downtown.

State Treasurer Richard Cordray was among the crowd of around 200 Obama supporters.

''Despite Clinton's apparent victory in Ohio, Obama still leads in the delegate count, so I think little has changed,'' Cordray said.

Cordray said Clinton was helped in Ohio by Strickland's support. Strickland has been mentioned as a potential running mate for Clinton. As he introduced her Tuesday night, one member of the audience yelled out, ''Mr. Vice President!''

Strickland strongly hinted that delegates in Michigan and Florida, which are not currently in the total count because of a penalty by the national party, should be counted.

''Let's go to Pennsylvania and West Virginia,'' he said. ''Let's go to Michigan and Florida!''

The pep-rally mood at Clinton's event was markedly different from that at Sen. John McCain's gathering a block away at the private Athletic Club. There, the words ''foregone conclusion'' were on most everybody's lips, as Ohio appeared to be the final block in his quest to be the Republican nominee.

''We believe Ohio will put him over the top, and eight months from now, we're going to put him over again,'' Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, said a few minutes before taking the microphone to address a roomful of McCain supporters.

McCain on the phone

As he compared McCain's perseverance as a Vietnam War prisoner to the determination of Ohioans who endured the Rust Belt years, Husted was interrupted.

''Mr. Speaker — I think you have a phone call.''

On the phone was McCain, calling from Texas. The call was broadcast into the room.

''I want to say to everyone: thanks,'' McCain said. ''I'm very, very grateful. Now the real campaign is going to begin. . . . I look forward to seeing you all as we get onto the campaign trail.''

Jokingly quoting Communist Chinese party leader Mao Zedong, the Arizona senator concluded, ''It's always darkest before it's totally black.''

Tuesday's primary was a test of sorts for Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, who fought to do away with touch-screen electronic voting in Cuyahoga County and tangled with Republican members of county boards of elections over paper ballots, provisional and early voting.

There were glitches.

The polls stayed open 90 minutes longer in Cuyahoga and Sandusky counties because precincts ran out of paper ballots. The delay meant the official count did not begin until 9 p.m.

After heavy rains drenched most of the state, Brunner asked a Franklin County judge to give 10 counties the authority to move precincts to avoid flooding or dangerous conditions.

Election officials around the state have been reporting unprecedented turnout, and Tuesday was no different, with brisk activity continuing until the 7:30 p.m. closing time at the Franklin County Board of Elections.

As the rain dissipated in the early evening, Kevin Williams, 26, tugged at his coat and braced against the chill outside the elections board after casting his vote for Obama.

''I wanted to have a voice,'' said Williams, who had cast his first-ever presidential vote. ''This election is going to shape our nation for a long time.''