Washington - Hillary Clinton's campaign, after failing to
win decisively in primary contests a day earlier, revealed Wednesday
that the former first lady poured more of her own money into the
effort to keep her dwindling presidential ambitions alive.
Clinton returned to the campaign trail, holding a rally in West
Virgina, where voters head to the polls Tuesday, and hoping a string
of victories during the next month could tilt the Democratic
nomination to her advantage.
But the chances for the New York senator to overcome rival Barack
Obama diminished after primary elections Tuesday in North Carolina
and Indiana.
Obama handily won North Carolina, while Clinton barely edged him
out in Indiana - an outcome that prevented her from making up any
ground in the delegate count and inched Obama closer to the
nomination.
The Clinton campaign told reporters Wednesday that she had loaned
an additional 6.4 million dollars to the campaign to keep pace with
Obama, who has been pulling financial contributions at record levels
and has easily outspent Clinton in the last three states to hold
primaries.
Clinton told reporters in Shepherdstown, West Virgina, that she
will stay in the race until there is a winner and said her personal
contributions to the campaign reflected her commitment to take the
White House.
'It's a sign of my commitment to this campaign. It's a sign of how
much I believe what we are trying to do,' she said, dodging a
question about how deep she'd be willing to go into her own pockets.
Clinton benefited from a surge in campaign funds after winning the
crucial state of Pennsylvania April 22 by pulling in 10 million
dollars, but she has hardly made a dent in Obama's war chest. Clinton
had loaned 5 million to her campaign in February, bring her total
contribution to 11.6 million dollars.
Obama's campaign said Tuesday's results made it increasingly
unlikely Clinton could deprive him of the nomination and that he was
on course to finish off the race.
'We believe it is exceedingly unlikely Senator Clinton will
overtake our lead in the popular vote and in fact lost ground on that
measure last night,' Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said.
Howard Wolfson, a Clinton campaign spokesman and strategist,
conceded that Clinton, 60, needs 'to do well in West Virginia'
against the African-American senator from Illinois on Tuesday. Voting
wraps up in South Dakota and Montana on June 3.
Despite her razor-thin victory in Indiana, Wolfson insisted in an
interview on MSNBC that Clinton's win showed again her ability to
appeal to the 'working class voters that often abandon the Democratic
Party' and who are needed to beat Republican Senator John McCain, 71,
in the November 4 presidential election.
With only six contests remaining, it appears unlikely either
candidate will be able to secure enough delegates in the state-by-
state elections to clinch the nomination. That means the final
decision will land in the hands of the party's so-called super
delegates, a group of party elite who vote independently of the
states.
Party insiders are worried that the split between the candidates
will jeopardize the chances of unifying Democrats before the
convention in August or possibly even by the time voters choose a
president in November.
George McGovern, the Democrats' 1972 presidential candidate who
lost to Richard Nixon, switched his support from Clinton to Obama
Wednesday and called on the former first lady to quit the race.
'It is time for the Democrats to get united,' McGovern told Fox
News.
A congressman from South Carolina, James Clyburn, the highest
ranking black representative in the House of Representatives,
insisted he will remain neutral in the race and welcomed Clinton's
promise to not give up.
'Absolutely not,' he replied when asked whether Clinton should
drop out, adding that the second-place candidate would have to help
reconcile the party.
Clinton's campaign aide Wolfson repeated his candidate's vow to
have the Michigan and Florida delegates seated at the national party
convention in August in Denver, Colorado. They were banned from
participating after the because the two states held their primaries
earlier than allowed by the national party.
The Democratic National Committee is to meet May 30 and 31 to
decide whether to seat the delegates. Clinton won in both populous
states both primaries, even though she abided by party rules and did
not campaign there. Her name was the only one of the major Democratic
candidates to appear on the ballot.
Either candidate needs 2,025 delegates to secure the nomination,
Obama led by 1,845 to 1,693 for Clinton, according to
realclearpolitics.com.
USA
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