Hillary Cruises to Win in West Virginia

CHARLESTON: Hillary Rodham Clinton coasted to an overwhelming but largely symbolic victory in working class West Virginia on Tuesday, handing Barack Obama one of his worst defeats of the campaign yet scarcely slowing his march toward the Democratic presidential nomination.

But with an almost insurmountable lead in the delegate tally, Obama may be just a few weeks from clinching the party's nomination before the end of the primary season on June 3 even if he loses most of the remaining contests in four states and Puerto Rico.

Clinton showed no signs of being ready to give up her bid to become the first female US president. She coupled praise for Obama with a pledge to persevere in a campaign in which she has become the decided underdog.

"I am more determined than ever to carry on this campaign until everyone has had a chance to make their voices heard," Clinton told supporters as the scope of her triumph became clearer.

"This race isn't over yet. Neither of us has the total delegates it takes to win."

Obama conceded defeat in advance but was looking ahead to the Oregon primary next week and to the general election campaign against Republican John McCain. But the West Virginia defeat underscored his weakness among blue collar voters who will be pivotal in the fall.

Obama was already trying to woo those voters as he campaigned Tuesday in Missouri, a battleground between the two parties in recent elections. He held an economic town hall event at a clothing manufacturing plant in Cape Girardeau County, which he lost to Clinton in the February 5 primary, even though he narrowly carried the state.

Obama sees the economy as a crucial issue, and one in which he hopes to tie McCain to the Bush administration's unpopularity.

"John McCain has decided that he is running for George Bush's third term in office," Obama told a gathering of garment workers. "He has opted for the same approach that has failed the American people," he said, criticizing the administration on economics and the Iraq war in particular.

"We need a new direction in Washington," added the man seeking to become the first black presidential nominee of a major party.

With votes from 42 percent of West Virginia's precincts counted, Clinton was winning 65 percent of the vote, to 28 percent for Obama.