Posted on 05/13/2008 5:46:19 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton coasted to a large, but largely symbolic victory in working-class West Virginia on Tuesday, handing Barack Obama one of his worst defeats of the campaign but scarcely slowing his march toward the Democratic presidential nomination.
The Associated Press made its call based on surveys of voters as they left the polls.
Obama looked ahead to the Oregon primary later in the month and the general election campaign against Republican John McCain, but the defeat underscored his weakness among blue collar voters who will be pivotal in the fall.
"This is our chance to build a new majority of Democrats and independents and Republicans who know that four more years of George Bush just won't do," Obama said in Missouri, which looms as a battleground state in November.
"This is our moment to turn the page on the divisions and distractions that pass for politics in Washington," added the man seeking to become the fist black presidential nominee of a major party.
Interviews with West Virginians leaving their polling places suggested Clinton's victory could be as overwhelming as any she has gained to date, delivered by an overwhelmingly white electorate comprised of the kinds of voters who favored her in past primaries. Nearly a quarter were 60 or older, and a similar number had no education beyond high school. More than half were in families with incomes of $50,000 or less.
Clinton's aides contended that her strength with blue-collar voters - already demonstrated in primaries in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana - makes her the more electable candidate in the fall.
"After tonight, we will have one more proof point, if you will, that Hillary Clinton is the strongest candidate Democrats can nominate," said Ann Lewis, an aide to the former first lady. "We're going to go back starting tomorrow and talk to those superdelegates who are still uncommitted and say, 'You know what? She is the candidate who expands the electoral map.' You look at West Virginia, you look at Kentucky, you look at Arkansas, you look at Tennessee. You look at what's at stake and that's a very powerful argument."
Clinton arranged a meeting with superdelegates for Wednesday.
She won at least 15 of the 28 delegates at stake in West Virginia, with 13 more to be allocated.
That left Obama with 1,875.5 delegates, to 1,712 for Clinton, out of 2,025 needed to clinch the nomination at the party convention in Denver this summer.
The delegate tally aside, the former first lady struggled to overcome an emerging Democratic consensus that Obama effectively wrapped up the nomination last week with a victory in the North Carolina primary and a narrow loss in Indiana.
He picked up four superdelegates during the day, including Roy Romer, former Democratic Party chairman.
"This race, I believe, is over," Romer told reporters on a conference call. He said only Clinton can decide when to withdraw, but he added: "There is a time we need to end it and direct ourselves to the general election. I think that time is now."
Clinton and Obama briefly shook hands on the Senate floor Tuesday after interrupting their campaigns for a few hours to vote on energy-related bills.
In the days since, close to 30 superdelegates have swung behind Obama, evidence that party officials are beginning to coalesce around the first-term Illinois senator who is seeking to become the first black to win a major party presidential nomination. Three of his new supporters formerly backed Clinton, who surrendered her lead in superdelegates late last week for the first time since the campaign began.
In his appearance in Cape Girardeau, Mo., Obama sketched the case against McCain. "For two decades, he has supported policies that have shifted the burden onto working people. And his only answer to the problems created by George Bush's policies is to give them another four years to fail," he said.
Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for McCain, said in response that Obama's rhetoric showed "more of the same negative, partisan politics that have paralyzed Washington for too long. Barack Obama talks about change and bipartisanship, but he has never showed the leadership needed to bridge party divides."
Clinton had spent parts of several days campaigning in West Virginia in search of victory.
She refrained from criticizing Obama directly, but had a cautionary word nonetheless for party leaders who seemed eager to pivot to the fall campaign. "I keep telling people, no Democrat has won the White House since 1916 without winning West Virginia," she said at Tudor's Biscuit World in the state's capital city.
Obama was in the state on Monday, but it was clear he was looking beyond the primary.
He said several days ago he expected Clinton to win by significant margins in West Virginia and then in Kentucky, which holds its primary next week. He devoted more time to Oregon, which also holds a primary next week, and announced plans to campaign in several other states that loom as battlegrounds in the fall against McCain.
Among them are Florida and Michigan, two states that held early primaries in defiance of national Democratic Party rules. The two combined have 44 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House, and Obama has not yet campaigned in either.
Obama also broke from his usual practice by wearing a flag pin on his suit jacket. He told several thousand people at the Charleston Civic Center that patriotism means more than saluting flags and holding parades.
PUERTO RICO IS THE PLACE TO WATCH HILLARY TAKE OVER:
LOOK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOjTOuOC9t8
Rush was brilliant today...pointing out how Obama’s stance on issues mimics the worst President in US history, Jimmah Carter.
Every time the Democrats say that McCain would be George Bush’s third term, the Republicans should say that Obama would be Carter’s second term...yes, he was so bad that he didn’t even get a second term as Bush did. If the US voters consider that debacle, they may think twice about rubber-stamping the msm’s coronation of BHO.
she's thinking...."yeah I'll be your VP,you betcha"
Here we have blue collar Democrats voting for one of two Democrats. During the Presidential election they will have only one Democrat to vote for instead of two. What is Hillary saying? Is she saying Democrats will not vote for another Democrat if that person is not Hillary? Is she saying that they will vote for the Democrat running on the Republican ticket, John McCain? Neither one of them is electable in my opinion.
So true - I’ve been saying for ages that Obama is running for Jimmy Carter’s 2nd term. THAT should be a major focus of R. ads and criticism.
Operation Chaos: Why Rush Limbaugh Was Right
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2011242/posts
I wonder how many of the 57 states will go for W this time
“During the Presidential election they will have only one Democrat to vote for instead of two.”
Not how I see it.
Girlfriend won ????
Oooooooooooooooo
Happy Days are Here Again...
You go Hillary,
:)
MAKE YOUR VOTE, COUNTRY FOLK
Tune: "Take Me Home, Country Roads" Original
By Winn Denver
Almost landslide, West Virginia
Numbers mountin', headin' on to Denver
Folks are white here, whiter than the sheets
That the early Byrd wore, blowin' in the breeze
Country folk, make your vote
For the race you belong
Mrs. Clinton, not Obama
Make your vote, country folk
All my prim'ries dare not end here
My election's set for this November
Dark and dusky stranger on the rise
Mustn't let him beat me, take away my prize
Country folk, make your vote
For the race you belong
Mrs. Clinton, not Obama
Make your vote, country folk
I hear your voice, in the evenin' hours you cheer me
This victory assures me that I'm queen for a day
And standin' on the stage
I get a feeling that this Wheeling's all the U.S.A.
U.S.A.
Country folk, make your vote
For the race you belong
Mrs. Clinton, not Obama
Make your vote, country folk . . .
Her speech is so boring!! Trying so hard to sound like a Man, but it isn’t working!
Obama was 15 years old when Jimmy Carter was elected and is too young to remember when JFK was shot.
Obama's young supporters wouldn't know Jimmy Carter's Presidency from Rome's First Triumvirate.
Thank God for us old geezers!
West Virginia Democratic Primary Results Candidate Votes % Hillary Clinton 41,508 62% Barack Obama 21,127 31% John Edwards 4,590 7% Precincts: 18% | Updated: 9:14 PM ET | Source: AP
sw
Jeez, I get my fat wife out on the campaign trail and I have to babysit this fat doofus.
Same West Virginians that keep electing the Grand Wizard Senator Bird?
Don't you agree that Rush helped keep her in to beat-up on Obama? It's all tactics.
LMAO 
I'm agreeing although I think he should be celebrating and cheering on Obama for the democrat presidential nominee because Rush has made it so clear how easy this democrat would have been to defeat in the national election.
Rush Limbaugh's hard work and dedication have given us another unhealthy prospect of having to endure the Clintons reigning in the White House for another four to eight miserable years.
The democrat party has stood by the Clintons no matter how reckless, irresponsible, negligent and scandalous they have been for sixteen years. Almost an entire generation's time, Clintons have ruled the democrat party. They stood by him during impeachment, and all the "gates", and stood by her even though her lousy Hillarycare lost the democrats the House for the first time in 40 years.
Mrs. Clinton is so willing to go into major debt to win the office of the president. But, heck, she can gain it all back plus just like her beloved husband has since he left office.
I just wish Rush, as brilliant as he is, and continues to be, would have held his fire on Obama. If I remember history correctly, it was out of chaos that the Dark Ages occurred and I'm thinking that another dismal era of stalinist Clintonism would be just that especially if we are lead by this particular control freaking power hungry shrew.
No, Rush knows she’s more likely to beat McCain.
McCain has a better chance in a match-up against Obama. However, to me it seems like McCain's campaign is intentionally designed to piss off conservatives, so even if Obama is the Democratic nominee, it still seems possible that McCain will defeat himself.
Bill Clinton was treated like a God there when he spent a few days in PR the first week of April.
George Bush is running for a third term!!? Who knew?
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/14/america/13cnddemocrats.php
-snip-
“I think it’s likely Obama is the nominee, but not certain,” said Carville, the Democratic strategist who worked for Clinton in the 1992 campaign and is close to the couple. “I would have preferred another result, but I’m going to be for him.”
“Everybody is going to be with Obama,” he added, referring to Clinton staff and supporters. “I have an undated check written out for Obama. I’ll send it when this is over.”
-snip-
This article is on Hillary wins WV. However, more than half it talks about Obama.
This article is on Hillary wins WV. However, more than half it talks about Obama.
Ding, ding. Stop FR. We have the FR Post of the Day.
47% reporting
Clinton 111,753 65% 15 delegates
Obama 48,440 28% 3
Isn’t that Bill Richardson?
I wonder if we should tell him that George W. Bush's presidency ends next year regardless of who wins the election.
She beat him like a rag-headed stepchild.
[woops...did I write that out loud?]
LOL! Clever!!
:thinking: "Shuck and jive all you want, boy - the White House belongs to Me..."
I enjoyed the video a couple of weeks ago when Bill and Hillary entered a grocery store, cameras rolling, for a Hillary photo op. While Hillary was signing autographs, Bill got bored, and sauntered away -- and all the cameras followed HIM!
Hillary was left all alone, looking around to see where everybody went. It was excellent!
Heh! That photo of x42 and Richardson is featured in this Red State Update video.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qsvJyJsoBLY
Funny stuff at that site.
Thinking:"You'd better steer clear of those mountains on your way to Oregon."
Bill doesn’t want Hillary to win any more than Al Bundy wanted Peg to bowl a perfect game and upstage him. (What? You don’t get it? I thought everyone watched Married with Children on FOX in the 90’s)
There's desperation.
That must have really pained him, sort of like the devil touching a Crucifix.
No, EXACTLY like the devil touching a Crucifix!
That IS brilliant!
Mind if I use that line?
Or would Rush mind? LOL!
Yes, Queeg is running as a Democrat. He is the worst pubbie nominee ever. Still, bommi will lose to him even despite Queegs concerted efforts to try and lose the election. The real pissing off of concervatives begins shortly after Queeg swears in. We ain't seen nothing yet.
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