US elections 2008

Clinton vows to battle on after West Virginia win

Article published on the 2008-05-14 Latest update 2008-05-16 08:23 TU

Hillary Clinton, after her victory in Charleston, West Virginia.
( Photo : Reuters )

Democrat Presidential Candidate hopeful Hillary Clinton cruised to an easy victory in the West Virginia primary, where she had been polling far ahead of her rival, Barack Obama. But Obama's national lead is virtually unaffected by the result. Obama has turned his attention to an eventual battle with the presumed Republican candidate John McCain.

Clinton received 67 per cent of the vote against Obama's 27 percent, promising a large proportion of the state's 28 pledged delegates.

After the victory, she vowed to "keep fighting" and "never give up" like the hard working, blue collar population of the state.

Clinton has done best among white, male, lower-income voters who don't have a college education. This demographic is representative of West Virginia's population, so it comes as no surprise that she convincingly won the state.

Obama had effectively conceded the contest and was already campaigning in Missouri when the results came in.

Despite Clinton's win, the junior senator from Illinois remains in the overall lead by all measures: fundraising totals, number of states carried, pledged delegates, superdelegates and popular vote.