West Virginia primary: Clinton record landslide win but Obama switches focus to McCain

Published on Wednesday 14 May 2008 10:00

HILLARY Clinton won a landslide victory in West Virginia, but it will have little impact on the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination as the battle for the White House continues today.

Frontrunner Barack Obama paid little attention to the Mountain State, which offered only 28 delegates, and chose instead to turn his attention to November's general election battle against Republican John McCain.

But Mrs Clinton's strong performance, in which she was leading Mr Obama by more than 40 points with 84% of the votes counted, highlighted the difficulties faced by her rival in attracting the support of white blue-collar workers.

Three quarters of white voters without college degrees backed Mrs Clinton and they made up nearly two-thirds of the state's voters.

Thanking supporters at her campaign headquarters in Charleston, West Virginia, Mrs Clinton said: "Like the song says, 'It's almost heaven'."

The victory was crucial for the former first lady's campaign since she suffered a heavy defeat in North Carolina, and only narrowly won Indiana, last week.

After last Tuesday's results many political pundits said the facial expressions of Mrs Clinton's husband, former president Bill Clinton, and the couple's daughter Chelsea – who were at her side during her speech – showed that they knew the 60-year-old New York senator's campaign was all but over.

During her victory speech in West Virginia early today, neither Mr Clinton nor Chelsea was present. Both were on the campaign trail elsewhere.

Mrs Clinton told the crowd: "You know I'll never give up. I'll keep on coming back and I'll stand with you as long as you stand with me."

She described the election as "unprecedented" and appealed to voters and the party's so-called superdelegates, who will decide its nominee, to "think hard about where we are in this election, and how we will win in November".

"This is not an abstract exercise," she said.

"This is for a solemn, crucial purpose. To elect a president, to turn our country around, to meet the challenges we face and seize the opportunity.

"It has been a long campaign but it is just an instant in time compared with the lasting consequences of the choice we will make in November."

She said she was "so grateful for this overwhelming vote of confidence".

"There are some who have wanted to cut this race short," she said.

"They say, 'Give up, it's too hard, the mountain is too high', but here in West Virginia you know a thing or two about rough roads to the top of the mountain.

"We know from the Bible that faith can move mountains, and my friends the faith of the Mountain State has moved me.

"I am more determined than ever to carry on this campaign until everyone has had a chance to have their voices heard."

She praised Mr Obama and said: "This continues to be a hard-fought race from one end of our country to the other, and yes we've had a few dust-ups along the way, but our commitment to bring America new leadership, that will renew America's promise, means that we have always stood together on what is most important."

Mrs Clinton also made another appeal to supporters for donations to fund her cash-strapped campaign and added: "We are in the homestretch, there are only three weeks left."

To a chorus of boos and shouts of "No", she said: "There are many who wanted to declare a nominee before the ballots were counted or even cast.

"This race isn't over yet. Neither of us has the total delegates it takes to win."

In an email from the candidate to her supporters, she wrote: "It's clear that the pundits declaring this race over have it all wrong.

"We've proved conventional wisdom wrong time and again in this race. We did it again... in West Virginia. Let's keep going."

Meanwhile, Mr Obama, who chose not to hold a high-profile election night event, was in the general election swing state of Missouri, which has already held its primary contest.

"This is our chance to build a new majority of Democrats and independents and Republicans who know that four more years of George Bush just won't do," he told supporters.

"This is our moment to turn the page on the divisions and distractions that pass for politics in Washington."

The 46-year-old Illinois senator will continue to concentrate on the general election as the prolonged primary season draws to a close on June 3, while Mrs Clinton now plans to concentrate on winning the support of voters in Kentucky, where she is again expected to perform well in next Tuesday's primary election.

But Mr Obama leads among pledged delegates, superdelegates, and the popular vote.

Mrs Clinton's best chance of success will come if the Democratic National Committee's rules panel, which meets on May 31, allows proposals to seat delegates that were stripped from Florida and Michigan after they violated party rules by holding their primaries too early.

If the delegates are reinstated that would increase the number of delegates needed to get the nomination from 2,025 to 2,209, giving her more time.

But even under the best scenario for Mrs Clinton, Mr Obama would still lead by about 100 delegates, with fewer than 250 superdelegates left to declare their support.