By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton scored a big victoryover front-runner Barack Obama in West Virginia on Tuesday,although it could be too little and too late to stop his marchto the Democratic presidential nomination.
Clinton hoped the landslide win in a state dominated by thewhite working-class voters who have been her biggest supporterswould turn around her campaign and bolster her case that she isthe Democrat with the best chance to beat Republican JohnMcCain in November's election.
Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, retainsa nearly insurmountable advantage in delegates who will selectthe nominee at the party convention in August. West Virginiahad only 28 delegates at stake.
Clinton vowed to keep fighting until the Democratic votingends on June 3 despite her dwindling prospects and a mountingcampaign debt.
"I am more determined than ever to carry on this campaignuntil everyone has had a chance to make their voices heard,"Clinton told a victory celebration in Charleston, WestVirginia.
"This race isn't over yet. Neither of us has the totaldelegates it takes to win," the New York senator and formerfirst lady said, adding: "We are in the home stretch."
Clinton, whose campaign is at least $20 million in debt,appealed for money to keep her White House bid alive.
"I'm asking people to think hard about where we are in thiselection, about how we will win in November," she said, notingher strength in big states like Ohio and Pennsylvania that arecritical in a presidential election.
With over half of the votes counted in West Virginia,Clinton led Obama by more than 35 percentage points.
Obama, who made only one brief campaign stop in WestVirginia before the contest, visited the general electionbattleground of Missouri on Tuesday. He already was lookingahead to a November match-up with McCain.
"A vote for John McCain is a vote for George Bush's thirdterm," Obama said in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. "We cannotafford any more of the Bush-McCain program."
Obama did not appear in public after the voting ended inWest Virginia, but a campaign spokeswoman said he left Clintona congratulatory message on her mobile phone. He is scheduledto make stops in the general-election battleground states ofMichigan on Wednesday and in Florida next week.
SUPERDELEGATE LEAD
A delegate count by MSNBC gives Obama 1,880 delegates toClinton's 1,718 with six more delegates to be awarded in WestVirginia. That leaves him 145 short of the 2,025 needed toclinch 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 fewer than 250 still to be named or 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," an Obamacampaign memo said.
A newly announced Obama supporter, former Colorado Gov. RoyRomer, declared it 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 a quarter ofthe white vote in West Virginia, which has a 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.
Five more contests remain in the Democratic nominatingbattle, with a combined 189 delegates at stake. Oregon andKentucky vote on May 20, Puerto Rico votes on June 1 andMontana and South Dakota vote on June 3.
Clinton is favoured again next week in Kentucky and Obamais favored in Oregon.
(Additional reporting by Deborah Charles, Jeff Mason, RickCowan and Andy Sullivan; Editing by Chris Wilson)
(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visitReuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online athttp:/blogs.reuters.com/trail08/ )
