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Clinton Clings to Presidential Hopes in West Virginia

Hillary Clinton campaigned doggedly in West Virginia today, clinging to her hopes that an anticipated landslide in tomorrow’s primary could interrupt Barack Obama’s slow glide to the Democratic nomination.

Clinton was on course for her biggest victory of the Democratic nomination in tomorrow’s primary, with opinion polls suggesting she has more than a 30-point advantage over Obama.

But even a win on that scale for Clinton in West Virginia is highly unlikely to reshape the Democratic race.

Obama is now just 159 delegates short of the 2,025 needed to secure the Democratic nomination, according to the Associated Press tally.

In a rain-sodden West Virginia, Clinton reiterated her argument that the battle for the Democratic nomination will not end until the final contest on June 3. “It’s not over until the lady in the pants suit says it is,” she said.

Obama, confident of clinching the nomination in a few weeks, made just one visit to West Virginia, choosing to campaign this week instead in key swing states in November: Missouri, Michigan and Florida.

“Our schedule reflects the fact that we are still fighting for votes and delegates in the remaining contests but also that we are going to places that are going to be competitive in the fall,” Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for Obama, told reporters.

“John McCain has gone unchallenged for far too long and we’re going to make sure that voters in competitive states know the choice in this election between changing Washington and the third term of George Bush’s failed policies that McCain is offering.”

In his sole appearance in West Virginia today, Obama acknowledged Clinton was going to take the state.

He used his visit to take a shot at the Bush administration for its treatment of war veterans.

“It’s an outrage. And it’s a betrayal, a betrayal of the ideals that we ask our troops to risk their lives for,” he told a rally in Charleston, West Virginia.

Tomorrow’s vote in West Virginia could prove awkward for Obama.An opinion poll today morning from Suffolk University gave Clinton 60% of the vote in West Virginia against 24% for Obama. She is also projected to perform in the Kentucky primary on May 20, where opinion polls give Clinton more than a 20-point lead.

But with Obama so close to the finishing line, attention continued to shift towards the presidential contest next November.

Only six primary contests remain in the Democratic race, leaving the largest catch of delegates so far in the hands of the party’s super delegates.

They have been steadily throwing their support to Obama over the last week, reversing Clinton’s early advantage. Three more super delegates, two from his birthplace in Hawaii and one from Maine, endorsed Obama this morning, drawing him ever closer to the party nomination.

Meanwhile, the contours of next November’s contest began to emerge.

Today saw the entry of a new presidential contender: Bob Barr, a former Republican congressman from Georgia who opposed the Bush administration on the war in Iraq, announced his candidacy as a libertarian candidate.

Obama and the likely Republican nominee, John McCain, began fighting for the green vote.

McCain today made a play for environmentalists with an appearance at a wind power plant in Portland, Oregon, where he spoke of the importance of alternative energy sources, according to prepared remarks.

In addition to pledging support for research on wind and solar power, McCain unveiled his plan for a cap-and-trade system to counter the effects of climate change.

Obama faces a primary contest against Clinton in Oregon on May 20, but the intervention from the Republican Senator, who is already airing green ads in the state, evidently was perceived as a bigger threat.

The Obama camp preempted McCain’s speech today by accusing him of opposing clean energy bills in the Senate.

By Guardian Unlimited © Copyright Guardian Newspapers 2008

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