By Rachel Kapochunas, CQ Staff

After last night’s victories in Wisconsin and Hawaii, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama ’s campaign today declared that New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton must score landslides in upcoming contests to remain viable.

Obama’s staffers made that assertion in a conference call with reporters, and Obama spokesman Bill Burton believes even Clinton’s campaign can’t dispute it.

Clinton’s campaign “would agree that that is the case,” Burton told CQ Politics. “It’s an issue of just plain mathematics. They are in a deficit and it is one they could only overcome with huge landslide victories.”

Clinton trails Obama by 74 delegates after last night’s contests, according to the Associated Press. Obama has earned 1,319 delegates to 1,245 for Clinton. Clinton now is counting on victories March 4 in the delegate-rich states of Texas and Ohio and on April 22 in Pennsylvania to essentially “close the gap” by the time Puerto Rico holds caucuses in June.

Clinton’s team disputes Obama’s argument that Clinton must win by landslides, although they would not speculate on the amount by which they hope or expect to win Texas or Ohio.

“We don’t expect any particular margin,” Clinton senior adviser Harold Ickes told reporters on a conference call Wednesday. Communications Director Howard Wolfson later added that the two states are “critically important” for the campaign at this juncture.

Clinton at one point held large leads in both Ohio and Texas. Recent polls show her still ahead in Ohio although with some upward movement by Obama in at least one. But a number of polls have showed that Texas is now a tight race.

Clinton’s camp notes that they’ve been prepared for a close race that would come down to superdelegate strength, where they believe they have an advantage. Superdelegates are unpledged party leaders and elected officials.

“Both candidates will need a number of automatic delegates,” Ickes said. “We think Mrs. Clinton will get those.”

In the two weeks leading up to the “crucial” March. 4 contests, Clinton’s campaign said they will be presenting reasons why she should be commander-in-chief and why she is the best candidate to defeat the likely GOP nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain .

McCain attacked Obama’s foreign policy acumen in a speech to supporters Tuesday night after his Wisconsin win.

“Will we risk the confused leadership of an inexperienced candidate who once suggested bombing our ally, Pakistan, and suggested sitting down without preconditions or clear purpose with enemies who support terrorists and are intent on destabilizing the world by acquiring nuclear weapons?” McCain asked his Wisconsin audience, referring to Obama’s assertion that he is willing to negotiate with Iran, a nation with a hostile relationship with the United States.

Clinton’s campaign believes they will expose what they view to be Obama’s lack of foreign policy over the course of the next two weeks and believes that upcoming debates Feb. 21 in Texas and Feb. 26 in Ohio will help them make that case.

But exit polls from Wisconsin show that Democratic primary participants were nearly evenly split on which Democratic candidate was most qualified to be commander-in-chief.

Polls also showed that Obama has cut into Clinton’s hold on certain segments of the Democratic population, such as women and union members. Several news sources reported Wednesday that the Teamsters union will today announce their decision to endorse Obama.