Clinton cruises to West Virginia win
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton scored a big victoryover front-runner Barack Obama in West Virginia on Tuesday, butit could be too little and too late to stop his march to theDemocratic presidential nomination.
Clinton hoped the easy win in a state dominated by thewhite working-class voters who have been her biggest supporterswill turn around her campaign and boost her argument she is theDemocrat with the best chance to beat Republican John McCain inNovember's election.
But Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president,retains a nearly insurmountable advantage in delegates who willselect the nominee at the party convention in August. WestVirginia had 28 delegates at stake.
Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, hasvowed to keep fighting despite dwindling prospects and amounting campaign debt.
"I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't believe that I couldbe the best president for West Virginia and America and that Iwas the stronger candidate to take on John McCain in the fall,"she said at a rally in Logan, West Virginia, on Monday.
Obama already was looking to November on Tuesday, visitingthe general election battleground of Missouri, with stopsplanned in Michigan on Wednesday and in Florida next week.
He did not make a public appearance after the West Virginiavoting ended, but a campaign spokesman said he left Clinton acongratulatory message on her cell phone.
Obama's campaign released a memo highlighting his strengthin the race. A delegate count by MSNBC gives Obama 1,874delegates to Clinton's 1,702 before Tuesday's results, leavinghim 151 short of the 2,025 needed to clinch the nomination.
Neither candidate can win without help from superdelegates-- nearly 800 party officials who are free to back anycandidate. Obama has been gaining ground among superdelegatesfor weeks and picked up four more on Tuesday.
He now has a narrow lead over Clinton among superdelegateswith less than 250 still uncommitted.
"Barack Obama leads in pledged delegates, contests won andsuperdelegates. And for perspective, while 28 pledged delegatesare up for grabs this evening, Obama has won the support of 27superdelegates in the course of just the last week," the Obamacampaign memo said.
A newly announced Obama supporter, former Colorado Gov. RoyRomer, said it was impossible for Clinton to catch Obama. "Themath is controlling. This race, I believe, is over," he said ona conference call sponsored by the Obama campaign.
Exit polls showed Obama picked up more than one-quarter ofthe white vote in West Virginia, which has a very small blackpopulation. Two of every 10 white voters said race was a factorin their vote, and only a third of those said they wouldsupport Obama against McCain.
About half of West Virginia voters said they believed theIllinois senator shared the views of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright,his controversial former pastor.
After West Virginia, five more contests remain in theDemocratic nominating battle with a combined 189 delegates atstake. Oregon and Kentucky vote on May 20, while Puerto Ricovotes on June 1 and Montana and South Dakota vote on June 3.
Earlier on Tuesday, both candidates returned to their jobsin the U.S. Senate, where they exchanged a few words whilevoting for a measure aimed at lowering oil prices. Record-highgas prices have been a key issue in the campaign.
(Additional reporting by Deborah Charles, Jeff Mason, RickCowan and Andy Sullivan; Editing by David Wiessler and ChrisWilson)