Hillary Clinton stays alive with Pennsylvania win

PHILADELPHIA -- Hillary Rodham Clinton easily won the Pennsylvania primary Tuesday, staving off elimination and ensuring that the Democrats' fierce nominating battle would last at least another two weeks.

In a state racked by economic anxiety, Clinton rolled to victory with strong support from women, seniors and blue-collar voters -- the coalition that carried the senator from New York to wins elsewhere, including her back-to-the-wall victory last month in Ohio.

Clinton led Barack Obama 55% to 45%, with 99% of the precincts reporting.

"Some counted me out and said to drop out," an exuberant Clinton told cheering supporters who packed a hotel ballroom in downtown Philadelphia. "But the American people don't quit. And they deserve a president who doesn't quit either."

Clinton began Tuesday with a daunting task -- not just winning, but winning big enough to change the course of a contest in which she trails Obama by most significant measurements: fundraising, pledged delegates and popular vote, as well as the number of states won.

Despite her victory, the Democrats' proportional awarding of delegates made it unlikely that Clinton would significantly dent Obama's lead, though she narrowed his advantage in the popular vote.

She also gained an important talking point: her greater strength in the big states that Democrats will need to win the White House in November. Along with Pennsylvania and Ohio, Clinton can point to victories in California, New Jersey and New York.

The next big test comes May 6, when Indiana and North Carolina vote. With Obama favored in North Carolina, Indiana shapes up as a potential must-win for Clinton.

Obama returned to the Midwest even before learning of his defeat. Speaking to a subdued crowd at a basketball arena in Evansville, Ind., he congratulated Clinton for running "a terrific race" and admonished those who booed the mention of her name. "We closed the gap," said Obama, his face taut. "We rallied people of every race and age and background to the cause."

"Now it's up to you, Indiana," he added.

For Democrats eager for an end to the prolonged nominating fight, Tuesday's result was disappointingly equivocal.

"Hillary Clinton had a good night but not a great night," said Peter Fenn, a veteran Democratic strategist who is neutral in the primaries. "Tonight keeps her racing around the track. But after 150 laps in the Indianapolis 500, she won't pass Obama unless he runs out of gas. And right now she's the one who has run out of money and must win handily in the races still to come."

As the Pennsylvania voting was underway, Clinton worked to tamp down those kinds of expectations and shift the burden of electoral proof to her front-running rival.

"I think a win is a win," she told reporters at a morning stop in the Philadelphia suburbs, employing a phrase she repeated in several election day interviews. "I think maybe the question ought to be, why can't he close the deal with his extraordinary financial advantage?"

Obama has tens of millions more in the bank than Clinton, whose last financial report showed her campaign effectively in the red. In Pennsylvania, the senator from Illinois outspent Clinton on television advertising by more than 2 to 1. Even so, Obama insisted Tuesday that he was the underdog, noting that a few weeks ago, Pennsylvania polls had shown him as many as 20 points behind.

"This is always an uphill climb," Obama told reporters after sharing pancakes at a Pittsburgh diner with his wife, Michelle. He forecast the Democratic race would last until the final votes are cast June 3 in Montana and South Dakota. The bright side, Obama said, "is we're seeing record turnouts, record involvement. We're building organizations that are getting tested."

Mathematically, with just nine contests left, it appears virtually impossible for Clinton to overtake Obama in the popular vote and among pledged delegates -- those chosen in primaries and caucuses. Her best hope was to instill enough doubts about Obama to persuade the 300 or so uncommitted superdelegates to rally to her side.

Pennsylvania was the last of the big-state contests and offered Clinton perhaps her last best chance to make the case that she could better appeal to the economically hard-pressed white voters that Democrats will need to win the White House.

The balloting Tuesday was the first in six weeks -- the last being Obama's landslide win in Mississippi. The lull was marked by a soap opera's worth of political twists and turns. There were headline-generating slaps at Obama by former New York Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro and former President Bill Clinton; controversies over the incendiary preaching of Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., and Clinton's hyperbolic recollection of a trip as first lady to Bosnia; the demotion of Clinton's chief campaign strategist, Mark Penn, and the storm over Obama's characterization of life in struggling small towns.

Throughout, and notwithstanding his difficulties, there was a small but perceptible drift toward Obama as a growing number of superdelegates fell in behind his candidacy.