Hillary wins West Virginia, vows to not back out

GOING ON: Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton acknowledges supporters.

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Keywords: Hillary Clinton, West Virginia

A bare majority of his West Virginia supporters -- 51 per cent -- said they would back Clinton in the fall, but 31 per cent said they'd vote for McCain.

Clinton was to be in Charleston, West Virginia, on Tuesday night for a victory celebration.

With a relatively large per centage of older voters and blue-collar workers, a dearth of upscale voters and a tiny African-American population, West Virginia appeared to be a perfect demographic fit for Clinton.

But even a landslide victory in tiny West Virginia may not be enough to blunt Obama's momentum.

On Tuesday, Obama appeared to be looking ahead to a general election fight with McCain.

Instead of campaigning in West Virginia, he planned to be in Washington to vote for a bill meant to protect the collective bargaining rights of police officers and firefighters. He was to then travel to Missouri and Michigan for campaign events.

Both states have voted this primary season but are considered swing states that Democrats and Republicans have in their sights for November.

Clinton said she's fighting on, telling a West Virginia crowd Sunday that "I guess my favorite message was from a woman named Angela. 'Keep strong,' she said, 'it's not over until the lady in the pantsuit says it is.' "

Like elsewhere in the country, the West Virginia voters are dealing with tough economic times.

According to exit polls, the economy is the top issue among the state's Democratic voters.

And that's not lost on Clinton, who is touting her plan, which was first proposed by McCain, to repeal the federal gas tax this summer.

"I want to give you a gas tax holiday this summer, and I want the oil companies to pay the gas tax out of their record profits," Clinton told West Virginia voters Monday. "Now, you may have heard something about this on the news, because it's controversial. My opponent, Sen. Obama, says, 'Oh, no, that's just a gimmick; that's not going to help people.' "

But tough talk like that seems to be the exception. Since last Tuesday, when she eked out a victory in Indiana but lost by double digits in North Carolina, Clinton appears to have toned down her rhetoric about her rival.

Obama earlier acknowledged that he would not win in West Virginia. Monday's single campaign event was his only campaign stop in the state in recent weeks.

He told the audience gathered at the Charleston Civic Center that "I'm extraordinarily honored that some of you will support me, and I understand that many more here in West Virginia will probably support Sen. Clinton."

After West Virginia, the campaign trail moves to Kentucky and Oregon, which vote in one week. Clinton is expected to do well in Kentucky, but Obama is the favorite to win Oregon.