Question is will save or delay the decision Sen Clinton needs to make by June 15th?
Clinton Beats Obama in West Virginia
By Chris Cillizza
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) claimed an easy victory over Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) in West Virginia's presidential primary today, a win that increased the likelihood of her continued candidacy but did little to alter her position as a decided underdog in the race for the Democratic nomination.
Polls closed in the Mountain State at 7:30 p.m. eastern time, and moments later the television networks had called the race in Clinton's favor. The former first lady entered the race the strong favorite, and the latest polling suggested she would win by a wide margin.
For Clinton, the win - while expected - will further help her to justify remaining in the race despite her drubbing by Obama last week in North Carolina and her very narrow win in Indiana.
"I am more determined than ever to carry on this campaign until everyone has had a chance to make their voices heard," Clinton said defiantly during a victory rally in Charleston, W.Va., shortly after 9 p.m. eastern time. Clinton referenced her comebacks in January's New Hampshire primary and then again in Ohio and Texas in early March as evidence that she has been counted out before and is still standing. "This race isn't over yet," she said. "I am in this race because I believe I'm the strongest candidate."
Meanwhile, Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (Pa.), an Obama supporter, dismissed the potential problems of the clearly divided Democratic electorate -- arguing that when faced with a choice between Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain, many of these voters would side with Obama. "Voters are going to have a very clear choice," Casey said in an interview on MSNBC.
Clinton and her advisers have insisted that the contest is not yet over because neither she nor Obama have secured the total of 2,025 delegates needed to become the party's nominee. Those familiar with her thinking believe she is likely to stay in the race through at least June 3, when primaries in South Dakota and Montana will bring the nomination contest to a close.
The steady stream of superdelegates announcing their support for Obama, however, diminished the impact of Clinton's victory. Today alone, four superdelegates - including former Democratic National Committee Chairman Roy Romer - came out for Obama.
"The math is controlling," said Romer of his decision. "This race, I believe, is over."
That storyline was pushed by Obama's campaign in a memo distributed to reporters this afternoon. Obama's campaign conceded not just West Virginia but also Kentucky, which votes a week from today, to Clinton.
"But with 49 contests behind us and only six to go -- including several states where we expect to do well -- Barack Obama leads in pledged delegates, contest won, and superdelegates," argues the memo.
While Clinton will likely emerge from West Virginia with a double-digit gain among pledged delegates, she still faces a major math problem. Entering today's vote, Obama led Clinton in pledged delegates by 174 and had a 283-to-272.5 lead among superdelegates. In the past week, Obama has added 27 superdelegates - gains that effectively nullify Clinton's victory tonight.
In the face of such daunting odds, Clinton and her campaign remained resolute that her victory in West Virginia, when coupled with other primary wins in Rust-Belt states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, effectively make the argument that she is the stronger Democratic candidates against Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
"With a record turnout expected in today's primary, West Virginia Democrats will make clear who they believe is the strongest candidate to take on Sen. McCain in the fall," reads a memo released by Clinton's campaign Tuesday afternoon. The memo also notes that no Democrat in the last 90 years has won the White House without carrying West Virginia.
"I think Democrats across the country tomorrow will be asking themselves why Senator Obama -- with all of his money, with all of the great press, with voters being told he was the inevitable nominee -- why did Senator Obama lose West Virginia by 15 points or so?" Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson asked on NBC's "Today" show.
Regardless of whether they believe she can win, Democratic voters seem content to let Clinton remain in the race through the end of the nomination fight. Nearly two-thirds of Democratic voters said Clinton should stay in the race in a recent Washington Post/ABC News survey, and almost 80 percent of West Virginia echoed that sentiment in exit polling, according to Fox News Channel.
West Virginia is one of just six contests left in the Democratic nomination fight. Kentucky and Oregon will cast ballots next Tuesday, while Puerto Rico will hold its primary on June 1. South Dakota and Montana will close out the campaign on June 3.
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"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." John Adams on Defense of the boston Massacre
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