Clinton looks for big West Virginia win

Enlarge Photo Democratic Presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, (D-NY) is greeted by supporters at Paschal's...

Wed, May 14 03:44 AM

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton appeared headed to a big West Virginia victory over front-runner Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential race on Tuesday, although it could be too late to turn around her faltering White House bid.

Clinton has an advantage of at least 20 points in most opinion polls in West Virginia, a bastion of the white working-class voters who have become her strongest supporters in the grueling battle for the Democratic nomination.

But Obama retains a nearly insurmountable advantage in delegates who will select the nominee at the party convention in August. A big win in West Virginia for the cash-strapped Clinton will make barely a dent in Obama's advantage.

Both candidates returned to their jobs in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday morning, where they exchanged a few words while voting for a measure aimed at lowering oil prices. Record-high gas prices have been a key issue in the campaign.

A Clinton victory in West Virginia could raise doubts about Obama's ability to win important swing states in the November election against Republican John McCain, one of her top aides said.

"I think Democrats across the country tomorrow will be asking themselves why Senator Obama, with all of his money, with all of the great press, with voters being told that he is the inevitable nominee, why did Senator Obama lose West Virginia by 15 points or so?" Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said on NBC's "Today Show."

West Virginia has just 28 delegates at stake in Tuesday's voting, which ends at 7:30 p.m. EDT (2330 GMT). Results are expected shortly afterward.

Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, has vowed to keep fighting despite her dwindling prospects and a mounting campaign debt.

"I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't believe that I could be the best president for West Virginia and America and that I was the stronger candidate to take on John McCain in the fall," she said at a rally in Logan, West Virginia on Monday.

But a newly minted Obama supporter, former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, said it is now impossible for Clinton to overcome Obama's lead.

"The math is controlling. This race, I believe, is over," Romer said on a conference call.

Obama, already looking to November, made a quick appearance in West Virginia on Monday and announced plans to visit general election battlegrounds Missouri, Michigan and Florida.

DEMOCRATS EXPECT PARTY UNITY

Despite calls from some Democratic officials for Clinton to quit, a new ABC News/Washington Post poll found nearly two-thirds of national Democrats say there is no rush for Clinton to get out of the race.

The poll found 85 percent of Democrats were confident the party would come together once it settled on a nominee.

After West Virginia, five more contests remain in the Democratic nominating battle with a combined 189 delegates at stake. Oregon and Kentucky vote on May 20, while Puerto Rico votes on June 1 and Montana and South Dakota vote on June 3.

A delegate count by MSNBC gives Obama 1,874 delegates to Clinton's 1,702, leaving him 151 short of the 2,025 needed to clinch the nomination. But neither candidate can win without help from superdelegates -- nearly 800 party officials who are free to back any candidate.

Obama has been gaining ground among superdelegates for weeks and picked up four more on Tuesday, including New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. He now has a narrow lead over Clinton among superdelegates with less than 250 still uncommitted.

"We're going to keep making the case to superdelegates every day and trying to whittle that number further down," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said.

He said Obama was closing in on the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination, which was "beginning to get to a very achievable number."

(Additional reporting by Deborah Charles, Rick Cowan and Andy Sullivan)

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