Hillary to Barack: 'Meet me in Texas'

MCALLEN, Texas — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton voiced optimism Wednesday about succeeding in the upcoming, make-or-break states of Ohio and Texas three weeks from now — a critical period for her campaign to regroup and mount a comeback.

‘‘You go on,’’ she said, one day after suffering lopsided losses to rival Barack Obama in Maryland, Virginia and Maryland. ‘‘Some weeks one of us is up and the other is down, and then we reverse it. ... It’s a long and winding road.’’

Speaking to reporters after a rally with hundreds of supporters in a convention center here, she acknowledged Obama’s victories, something she did not mention at a huge rally in El Paso Tuesday night.

‘‘I want to congratulate Senator Obama on his recent victories and tell him to meet me in Texas,’’ she said. ‘‘We’re ready.’’

Following his Tuesday victories, Obama now has a 26 delegate lead over Clinton — 1,224 to 1,198, according to the latest tally by The Associated Press.

During the rally and in her news conference, Clinton stepped up her criticism of Obama’s health care plan, casting herself as the only candidate in the presidential contest who would provide universal health care.

Clinton would require every person to obtain health insurance and would provide government assistance to those who can’t afford it. Obama would not mandate the purchase of health insurance, but would provide government subsidies to encourage more Americans to buy it. Clinton has said that would still leave up to 15 million people without insurance.

Clinton has been stressing economic issues and took on Obama directly, noting her rival planned to deliver a speech Wednesday on the economy.

‘‘I don’t know how you have an economic plan ... if you don’t have a universal health care plan,’’ she said. ‘‘I don’t know how you have an economic plan if you don’t take on the problem in the housing market and have an aggressive plan to end the foreclosures. He has not.’’