CHARLESTON, W.VA. — Hillary Rodham Clinton romped to victory Tuesday in the West Virginia primary, burying Barack Obama in a landslide that seemed unlikely to stop his steady march to the Democratic nomination.
Running in a state tailored to her strengths -- with a large turnout of white, rural and working-class voters -- Clinton posted one of her biggest winning margins. With nearly all of the vote counted, she was leading Obama 67% to 26%.
Speaking to supporters at Charleston's downtown convention center, Clinton made clear her intention to keep running, even as she praised Obama.
"There are some who wanted to cut this race short," she said. "They say, 'Give up, it's too hard, the mountain is too high.' But here in West Virginia, you know a thing or two about rough roads to the top of the mountain. . . . I am more determined than ever to carry on this campaign until everyone has had a chance to make their voices heard."
Obama, who conceded even before the polls closed, left a voicemail message congratulating the New York senator. He campaigned Tuesday in Missouri, a fall battleground, and focused on the presumptive GOP nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, saying he promised four more years of President Bush's policies.
There were 28 delegates at stake in West Virginia, too few to shake up the race even if Clinton won them all. Under the party's allocation system, Clinton won 20 delegates to Obama's eight, according to the Associated Press.
But Clinton is no longer resting her candidacy on the delegate count. She hopes to persuade party leaders, who hold the balance of power, that she would be the more electable candidate against McCain, based on her support among white, blue-collar voters who have not embraced Obama's candidacy in the same way as black, more affluent and better-educated voters.
"The White House is won in the swing states, and I am winning the swing states," Clinton said Tuesday night.
But Obama continued to gain superdelegate support, adding four, including Roy Romer, a former Democratic Party chairman and ex-superintendent of Los Angeles public schools. "This race, I believe, is over," Romer told reporters in a conference call. "It is time for the party to unify . . . and move on to the general election."
The balloting resumes Tuesday, with Clinton favored in Kentucky and Obama expected to win Oregon. The results could give Obama a majority of all pledged delegates -- those awarded through primaries and caucuses -- at which point he may declare victory.
