Hillary Clinton pushes on into West Virginia

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. — Hillary Clinton insisted "it's still early" as she took her campaign to West Virginia on Wednesday, but her handlers acknowledged that the only way she can win the nomination is to convince Democratic officials that voters backing Barack Obama are making a mistake that would hurt the party in November.

"I'm staying in this race until there's a nominee," Clinton told reporters after a campaign stop in the state, site of next Tuesday's primary. "And I obviously am going to work as hard as I can to become that nominee."

Obama campaign officials declined to call for Clinton's withdrawal. But spokesman David Plouffe said, "We can see the finish line."

And, he added, it will come on May 20 when contests in Kentucky and Oregon could give Obama a majority of the pledged delegates though leave him short of the total needed for nomination.

Still to be determined is what to do about the Michigan and Florida delegations that were punished by the Democratic National Committee for setting early primaries. But both camps agree there is no resolution of that which could give Clinton the lead. Party official are to consider the matter on May 31.

Clinton said Wednesday that she would be sending a letter to Obama and Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean expressing her view that seating the delegations from those two states is a civil rights and voting rights issue, the Associated Press reported.

For Obama, according to 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, it all adds up "a giant and decisive stride toward the nomination" as a result of his big Tuesday win North Carolina and narrower-than-expected defeat in Indiana.

"The bottom line is he clearly did more than he had to and she did not achieve what she had to," Kerry said.

Clinton put the best possible spin on the situation on Wednesday as some of her supporters began to express doubt about her continued candidacy and Obama supporters screamed at her to withdraw.

"Hillary, of course, will make the decision as to if and when she ends her campaign," said 1972 Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern, an early Clinton backer who now wants her to withdraw. "But I hope that she reaches that decision soon so that we can concentrate on a unified party capable of winning the White House next November."

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, another Clinton supporter, said the ongoing battle is producing "negative dividends in terms of strife within the party" and "the question comes whether she can get the delegates that she needs, and I'd like to know what the strategy is to do that."

Clinton said her strategy is based on convincing superdelegates to back her even if a majority of Democratic voters do not. To that end, she met with some of these party leaders at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Wednesday evening.

"I believe that I'm the stronger candidate against Senator McCain," she said. "And I believe I would be the best president among the three of us running."

"But I also think it's still early. I mean, everybody is so focused on where we are right now," she said, recalling that her husband did not clinch the 1992 nomination until June of that year.

Clinton offered a more urgent tone in a fund-raising e-mail sent Wednesday as she was acknowledging personal loans of $6.25 million to her campaign in recent weeks to keep it afloat. Clinton called the loans, on top of a previous $5 million loan, "a sign of my commitment to this campaign."

"We've never campaigned with the stakes as high or the time as short as they will be over the next four weeks," she told supporters.

At Clinton headquarters, spokesman Howard Wolfson said there have been no discussions about dropping out. Clinton advisers conceded there is now no chance she can wind up with more delegates or more votes, leaving the superdelegates as her only hope.

Campaign strategist Geoff Garin rejected the notion that Clinton is banking on a "nullification" approach aimed at getting supedelegates to overrule voters. What Clinton is counting on, Garin said, is superdelegates making " a good-faith, independent judgment about what's in the best interest of the party and the country."

"They're not undoing anything. They are casting their votes," he said.

At a campaign stop in Shepherdstown, W.Va., Clinton homed in on her economic message, made no mention of Obama and ignored his supporters – including at least two who shouted at her to concede.

"Hillary, you've got to quit," one man yelled.

Obama is refusing to call for Clinton's withdrawal. Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, an Obama backer, said it would be "inappropriate and awkward for any of us to tell Senator Clinton when it is time for the race to be over."

By Plouffe's count, Obama now leads by 172 delegates, his largest margin so far.

"We are only 33 pledged delegates from receiving a majority of the pledged delegates. And that will happen on May 20, which we think will be an incredibly important moment in the campaign," Plouffe said.

Obama strategists said he soon will begin campaigning in key general election swing states, a sign that he believes the nomination is locked up.

Clinton remained upbeat, trumpeting her "come-from-behind" win in Indiana on Tuesday and ignoring her North Carolina loss.

"Next Tuesday will be one of the most important elections in this entire process and I personally believe West Virginia is one of those swing so-called swing states. Democrats need to win it in the fall and I want to start by winning it in the spring," she told supporters at an outdoor rally.

Obama picked up three previously uncommitted superdelegates and one – Virginia state legislator Jennifer McClellan – who previously backed Clinton. Clinton picked up one superdelegate, Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., whose district backed her in the Tuesday primary.

The McCain camp on Wednesday weighed in with an analysis concluding that McCain has "nearly 20 percent support among Democratic voters."

"If and when Senator Obama becomes the official nominee, Democratic Primary voters may not form a tight coalition immediately. Data to date suggest Democratic primary voters will not blindly support Senator Obama," Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, said in the memo.