Clinton Scores
Vital Win Over Obama in Pennsylvania Primary

Hillary Rodham Clinton kept her White House hopes alive for a few more weeks, if not months, defeating rival Barack Obama by 10 points in Pennsylvania's crucial primary and stamping out speculation that she would exit the increasingly divisive Democratic presidential race.

The victory, however, did little to narrow her deficit in the all-important delegate count.

Clinton, bidding to be the first woman U.S. president, overcame massive spending by Obama, who had significantly cut the New York senator's early overwhelming advantage in the state. But after a rugged and caustic six-week campaign, voting blocs who favored Clinton -- older, working-class, less-educated Pennsylvanians -- stood fast behind her.

Speaking about her victory, Clinton said Wednesday morning that her coalition ''is the best to win against John McCain.'' She told NBC television's Today program she had already raised $3 million for her heavily indebted campaign with an Internet appeal launched after her Pennsylvania win.

When challenged on voter assessments -- even among her supporters -- that she ran a negative campaign, Clinton said, ''This is a very civil campaign by any objective standard.'' She made those remarks on the NBC cable TV show Morning Joe.

''That's just the way campaigns are run,'' she said.

Nevertheless, Obama leaves the hard-fought contest behind with his lead in pledged delegates and the popular vote intact, as both candidates move on the primary campaigns in the states of Indiana -- a toss-up -- and North Carolina, where the Illinois senator was expected to win easily because of the large population of fellow African-Americans.

Some Democratic leaders were looking for a closer Pennsylvania outcome that could have led Clinton to leave the race, allowing the party five months to unite behind Obama before the November general election. Sen. John McCain, who wrapped up the Republican nomination weeks ago, has pulled even with both Democrats as their struggle to lead the ticket has grown increasingly bitter.

Clinton left no doubt Wednesday that she would not drop out of the race before all primary and caucus contests were finished.

''We're going to go through the next nine contests and I hope to do well in many of them ... but I'm confident that when delegates -- as well as voters, like the voters of Pennsylvania just did -- ask themselves who's the stronger candidate against John McCain that I will be the nominee of the Democratic Party.''

At a victory rally in Philadelphia Tuesday night, Clinton told wildly cheering supporters ''the tide is turning.''

''Some counted me out and said to drop out,'' Clinton told supporters cheering her triumph in a state where she was outspent by more than two-to-one. ''But the American people don't quit. And they deserve a president who doesn't quit either.''

Despite her optimistic assessment, she still faces a mathematically impossible chore to overcome Obama's overall lead as they move into what appeared to be an increasingly polarizing battle.

Only half of each Democrat's supporters said they would be satisfied if the other won the nomination, according to interviews with voters as they left polling stations.

Obama was flying to Indiana when the race was called for his rival and only learned the outcome on landing.

''After 14 long months, it's easy to forget what this campaign's about from time to time,'' Obama told a rally in Evansville, Ind., conceding that the Pennsylvania race turned nasty.

''It's easy to get caught up in the distractions and the silliness and the tit-for-tat that consumes our politics, the bickering that none of us are entirely immune to, and it trivializes the profound issues: two wars, an economy in recession, a planet in peril, issues that confront our nation. That kind of politics is not why we are here tonight. It's not why I'm here, and it's not why you're here.''

The Illinois senator, who would become the first black U.S. president, trailed in opinion polls in Pennsylvania all along but had made up ground in the last few weeks, despite a series of gaffes in a campaign that once ran with precision.

Exit polls showed Clinton won the support of working-class voters, women, and whites in an election where the economy was the dominant concern. More than 80% of voters surveyed as they left their polling places said the United States was already in a recession.

Obama was favored by blacks, the affluent, and voters who recently switched to the Democratic Party, a group that comprised about one in 10 Pennsylvania voters, according to the surveys conducted by the Associated Press and U.S. television networks.

Clinton won at least 80 of the 158 delegates up for grabs in Tuesday's contest, according to an analysis of election returns by the Associated Press. Sen. Barack Obama won at least 66, with 12 still to be awarded.

In the overall race for the nomination, Obama led with 1,714.5 delegates, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Clinton had 1,589.5 delegates, according to the AP tally.

Because there are only nine contests remaining through June 3, Clinton has only the remotest chance of finishing the race with more elected delegates than Obama. Her main hope is keeping the race close and seeking the support of the superdelegates, who can vote for either candidate regardless of state results.

Barring a huge misstep by Obama, many superdelegates would be reluctant to overturn the verdict of the millions of Americans who have voted in record numbers in the most compelling party presidential nominating race in memory.

Clinton is touting her record winning most of the primaries in big states and hoping superdelegates will see her Pennsylvania victory as validation of her ability to appeal beyond a narrow base in the general campaign.

''For six weeks, Senator Obama and I crisscrossed the state ... being judged side by side, making our best case,'' she told supporters. ''You listened, and today you chose. With two wars abroad and an economic crisis here at home, you know the stakes are high and the challenges are great. But you also know the possibilities ... are endless with a president who's ready to lead on Day One.''

The keen interest in the primary was reflected at polling stations in Pennsylvania. Elections officials projected turnout among Pennsylvania's 8.3 million registered voters at 40% to 50%, double that of the state's primary four years ago.

Obama reported spending more than $11 million on television in Pennsylvania, more than anywhere else. That compared with less than $5 million by Clinton.

Given President George W. Bush's low approval ratings, a Democratic victory in the November election was once considered all but assured, but the drawn out and increasingly nasty Democratic contest has left McCain to draw even in polling.

Republicans were bolstered by a string of trouble for Democrats leading up to Tuesday's primary.

Obama was forced on the defensive by incendiary comments by his former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, then triggered controversy on his own by saying small-town Americans cling to guns and religion because they are bitter about their economic hardships.

Clinton conceded that she had not landed under sniper fire in Bosnia while first lady, even though she said several times that she had. And she replaced her chief strategist, Mark Penn, after he met with officials of the Colombian government who were seeking passage of a free-trade agreement that she opposes. (Steven Hurst, AP)