BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Sen. John McCain said yesterday he expects to be the nominee of his party as a cascade of Republican endorsements added to the sense that he is on the verge of knocking out former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney on Super Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Democratic race is far more ambiguous as Sen. Hillary Clinton leverages the strength of her national profile while enormous crowds continue to turn out for her rival, Sen. Barack Obama.

McCain assumed a nominee's mantle as he crossed the South yesterday, touting his high-profile endorsements and talking about how he will unify the Republican Party after Tuesday's de facto national primary day.

"I believe that the majority of the Republican Party conservatives are convinced that I'm best equipped to lead this country, unify our party and take on the challenge of radical Islamic extremism," he said in Nashville. In Birmingham, he flatly declared: "I'm the most electable."

His chief opponent, Romney, would not say whether he would continue his campaign after Tuesday if results don't swing his way, and he spent yesterday attending the funeral of Mormon church president Gordon Hinckley in Salt Lake City. The funeral's timing cost Romney an entire day on the campaign trail and raised the visibility of his Mormonism — a faith of which some evangelical voters are wary.

The fight for the Democratic nomination is far more unsettled, with Obama continuing to attract massive crowds as he woos decidedly conservative voters while Clinton appealed to Latino voters at Cal State University, Los Angeles to the strains of a mariachi band.

With just two days left for campaigning before Super Tuesday, a new national poll from Gallup found McCain outdistancing Romney, 44 percent to 24 percent, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 16 percent and Ron Paul at 5 percent. On the Democratic side, Clinton led Obama, 48 percent to 41 percent.