Clinton thumps Obama in West Virginia primary (2nd Roundup)

May 14, 2008, 4:30 GMT

Washington - Senator Hillary Clinton claimed victory in the Democratic Party's West Virginia presidential primary late Tuesday at a televised rally following the close of polls.

'I am more determined than ever to carry on this campaign until everyone has had a chance ... to be heard,' Clinton said, pumping her supporters for more money to keep her campaign alive.

With 93 per cent of polling stations reporting, the former first lady had 67 per cent of the vote compared to 26 per cent for rival Democratic candidate Barack Obama.

Clinton's victory speech was upbeat and conciliatory, and she commended rival Democratic candidate Barak Obama.

'I believe that this campaign has been good for the Democratic Party and good for our country,' Clinton said. 'People are discussing and debating issues. They are turning out in record numbers to register and to vote. There is an excitement about politics that is the lifeblood of our democracy.'

Major television networks had projected a Clinton victory immediately after voting stations closed Tuesday evening.

Clinton closely trails Obama in delegates won for the Democratic presidential nominating convention in August. Despite the narrow margin, her campaign has been declared all but hopeless by most of the national media, with only a handful of small states yet to vote in the intra-party contest.

Clinton argued Tuesday night that the contested primary states of Florida and Michigan should see their votes counted. The states voted in January, too early under national party rules, leading to the loss of their convention delegates.

'Some said our campaign was over after Iowa, but then we won New Hampshire. Then we had big victories on Super Tuesday and in Ohio and Texas and Pennsylvania. And, of course, we came from behind to win in Indiana,' Clinton reminded primary voters.

'So, this race isn't over yet. Neither of us has the total delegates it takes to win. And both Senator Obama and I believe that the delegates from Florida and Michigan should be seated.'

At this point, neither candidate appears likely in state-by-state contests to secure the 2,025 delegates needed to win the nomination, so the fate of the race is in the hands of the so-called super delegates, a group of about 800 party elite who hold votes independent of the state primaries.

Obama has built a slight edge of 12 in the super-delegate count, with about 244 of the 800 still undeclared. Clinton hopes that strong showings in the final primaries will persuade super-delegates to line up behind her and tilt the race in her favour.

But a move by the super-delegates to swing the nomination to Clinton could further split the party and make it more difficult to unite after a drawn out campaign that has prompted some voters in Democratic primaries to vow they will vote for presumptive Republican Party nominee John McCain if their candidate is denied the nomination.

Many analysts say that Clinton has little chance to convince the super-delegates who lead the centre-left party to use their votes to deny Obama the nomination despite his edge in elected delegates and the total intra-party popular vote.

Clinton's campaign was banking on the strong win in West Virginia - a small but important swing state in the general election - to revive her fortunes and convince party leaders that the New York senator is best positioned to forge a broad coalition of voters for the November 4 presidential vote.

Only 28 delegates are up for grabs in West Virginia. Without the inclusion of Florida and Michigan, no realistic scenario exists for Clinton to catch Obama in pledged delegates awarded by voters.