By M&C People May 14, 2008, 14:19 GMT
Winning West Virginia has put wind to the sails of Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign, who is urging the party leaders key to the Democratic presidential race to rethink their march to Barack Obama.
Democratic presidential hopeful New York Senator Hillary Clinton speaks as she celebrates her victory against fellow Senator Barack Obama of Illinois in the West Virginia Primary at the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, West Virginia, USA, 13 May 2008. EPA/RANDY SNYDER
Yet while she was taking West Virginia, even more super-delegates have aligned with rival Obama.
Her win demonstrated that the swing vote and core of blue-collar voters are her key to a Democratic defeat of Republican John McCain.
"Choose who you believe will make the strongest candidate in the fall," she said at her Charleston rally in a pitch aimed at superdelegates. She was returning to Washington to meet Wednesday with some of them.
"The White House is won in the swing states," she said, "and I am winning the swing states."
Obama knows this too.
"This is our chance to build a new majority of Democrats and independents and Republicans," Obama said in Missouri, a November battleground.
Clinton won 20 of the 28 delegates at stake in West Virginia and Obama won eight.
That left Obama with 1,883.5 delegates, to 1,717 for Clinton, out of 2,026 needed to clinch the nomination at the party convention in Denver this summer.
Obama picked up about 30 superdelegates in the last week.
Despite this, Clinton forges ahead.
"This race isn't over yet," she said to reporters.
The New York senator also planned to meet members of her finance committee. Her campaign is facing more than $20 million in debt.
Still ahead for both are five primaries, beginning next week in Kentucky and Oregon, then Puerto Rico on June 1 and Montana and South Dakota two days later.
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