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Clinton spends Mother's Day campaigning in W.Va.

AP
Posted: 2008-05-11 20:54:36
GRAFTON, W.Va. (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton toured the birthplace of Mother's Day in rural West Virginia, offering Democrats a subtle reminder Sunday that her fading candidacy remains strong among women and blue-collar, white voters.

That loyal base is expected to carry Clinton to a sizable victory in the primary on Tuesday, though it won't do much to close the gap between her and Barack Obama, her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton's lingering candidacy highlights not just her strengths but also how difficult it has been for Obama to make inroads among some key Democratic constituencies.

Clinton made a brief afternoon visit to the home of Anna Jarvis, who is credited with founding Mother's Day 100 years ago. Clinton spoke to reporters afterward and told stories about women who have changed history by pressing for equal rights and breaking into male-dominated careers.

She highlighted her own mother's working-class upbringing and quoted from letters she said mothers have written her recently.

"Keep fighting," Clinton said, reading from one of those letters. "The fact is that you stood throughout the constant ups and downs of this race. You never wavered and you never gave up."

Clinton said her favorite letter ended, "It's not over until the lady in the pantsuit says it is."

At an evening campaign stop in Eleanor, W.Va., Clinton quoted Eleanor Roosevelt: "A woman is like a tea bag. you never know how strong she is until she's in hot water."

Though Obama has amassed a nearly insurmountable lead in delegates and has turned his attention to a general election against Republican John McCain, Clinton is pressing ahead in West Virginia and Kentucky - states where the demographics strongly favor her.

Overall, her campaign has remained alive largely because of her 60 percent to 36 percent edge over Obama among white women voters in the primaries so far. But among college-educated white women - the demographic of many feminists and of Clinton herself - her edge is much smaller, 54 percent to 43 percent, according to exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks.

Even if, as expected, she racks up hefty wins in both West Virginia and Kentucky, it likely won't change the landscape of the race. But Clinton's advisers hope it will persuade party leaders that she is more likely than Obama to beat McCain.

Clinton did not mention Obama on Sunday. But campaign strategist Howard Wolfson said West Virginia is a key swing state that Republicans won in 2000 and 2004, and that the former first lady will put back in the Democratic column. He said Obama should beat her there if he wants her out of the race.

"Why can't Senator Obama beat Senator Clinton in West Virginia? Voters there have heard that he's the presumptive nominee," Wolfson said on "Fox News Sunday." "They've seen the great press he's gotten in the past couple of days. Let's let them decide. They have an opportunity. They want to end this on Tuesday, they're perfectly capable of it."

Besides his lead in pledged delegates, those won in primaries and caucuses, Obama on Saturday erased Clinton's once-commanding advantage among superdelegates, the elected Democrats and party leaders who will play a role in determining which one of them becomes the nominee.

Obama took Sunday off, spending it at home in Chicago. He has scheduled campaign appearances in Charleston, W.Va., and Louisville, Ky., on Monday.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
05/11/08 20:53 EDT
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Recent Comments

1 - 10 of 98
98 comments

mailmaam83 11:24:49 PM May 12 2008

nice flag pin you wore for us "bitter" people today, Barack...you're SO fake!
West Virginians for Hillary--OVERWHELMINGLY

daniela707 07:58:31 PM May 12 2008

Republican wants Obama wins the nomination for democrat...because they (republican) know that Hillary will win for Presiden in the heartbeatt....Hillary is strong and great leader....We will NOTvote for Obama....He is not strong but only good in speech....If Hillary doesn't win the nomination, we will vote for republican party on general election day.

Vote HILLARY 08

patsysueflint 10:11:18 AM May 12 2008

quiters dont WIN
winners dont QUIT

lilscats9 09:58:53 AM May 12 2008

DOES OBAMA THINK THERE ARE 59 (FIFTY NINE.) STATES IN THE US. WHAT AN IDIOT. jUST WAIT UNTIL ALL THE BREWING SCANDALS GET OUT. HE WILL BE FINISHED. WHY IS THE LIBERAL-DEMOCRATIC MAIN-STREAM MEDIA NOT TALKING ABOUT THIS?????

uawbaby2 09:51:51 AM May 12 2008

I was reading blogs the other day, and I was surprised how many people were talking about, white people starting there own hate black churches, and going out and buying guns. There was talk about starting to sue the black communities for not taking better care of their neighborhood's, and having all black players on some if not all basketball teams. They said the tables will turn and white people are not going to put up with this black bull crap any more. The testing in schools will be for all races not just made easier for blacks.
The city's will have their hands full when white people start picketing in the streets.
My take is Obama can lie and cause so much hate and division my vote, will go to McCain. At least the wars will stay where they are, and not in our back yards. And I have lost a son in this war. So don't tell me I am stupid for my decision. If people can believe all that has come out about Obama and are still voting for him, then you have no right telling someone else th

lilscats9 09:48:40 AM May 12 2008

Hillary, you and Bill need to take a vacation to Puerto Rico. With what you might find out there, you will definitely be the nominee. Just hang in there. DO NOT GIVE UP
Good Luck

uawbaby2 09:48:02 AM May 12 2008

You say the race card is being dealt by the Clinton and Mc Cain campaigns and it is backfiring miserably.

It is all too funny that McCain nor Hillary can say anything at all but yet Obama can say what ever the hell he wants about typical whites, or bitter small town people.
Let alone this stuff.
"The Audacity of Hope." "I WILL STAND WITH THE MUSLIMS SHOULD THE POLITICAL WIND SHIFT IN AN UGLY DIRECTION".....Barak Hussein Obama

Obama from Dreams of my Father...

"I CEASED TO ADVERISE MY MOTHER'S RACE AT THE AGE OF12 OR 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites"

" I FOUND A SOLACE IN NURSING A PERVASIVE SENSE OF GRIEVANCE AND ANIMOSITY AGAINST MY MOTHER'S RACE".

"The emotion between the races could never be pure.....THE OTHER RACE (WHITE) WOULD ALWAYS REMAIN JUST THAT: MENACING, ALIEN AND APART"

"never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. IT WAS INTO MY FATHER'S IMAGE , THE BLACK MAN, THE SON OF AFRICA, THAT I'D P

crulintentons1 09:46:35 AM May 12 2008

"BREAKING NEWS JUST IN"
MENTALLY CHALLENG FORMER POW ON THE LOOSE RUNNING ALL OVER COUNTRY.... EASY TO IDENTIFY... MAYBE TRYING TO CONVINCE PEOPLE TO ELECT HIM PRESIDENT... USE EXTREME CAUTION.....

PS... REMIND HIM IT IS TIME TO TAKE MEDS AND CHANGE DIAPER

goin2dahdumps 09:43:02 AM May 12 2008

WITHOUT THE BLACK VOTE, DEMOCRATS CAN'T WIN THE WHITE HOUSE- PERIOD !!!, END OF STORY !!!!!.
BLACKS, GET IT LIKE I KNOW IT: IF THE CLINTONS WIN THE NOMINATION, COMES NOVEMBER, STAY HOME AND LET McCAIN WALK AWAY WITH THE WHITE HOUSE. YES, I REALIZE HE'LL KEEP OUR NATION IN DAH-DUMPS, BUT THEN AGAIN, IT'S ALSO WHAT THEM CLINTONS WILL DO - FOR THEY'VE BOTH BEEN BOUGHT AND PAID FOR BY THE SAME PEOPLE- THE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS.
MINORITIES, THERE IS JUST NO WAY IN HELL SHE CAN WIN THE WHITE HOUSE WITHOUT YOUR VOTE; I NO LONGER SUPPORT HER FOR, IN A DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO GRAB A NOMINATION THAT IS SLIPPING AWAY FROM HER GRASP, SHE'S REVERTED TO PLAYING THE RACE CARD - THUS SHOWING THE NATION, SHE'S JUST ANOTHER OF THOSE BITTER SMALL PEOPLE MARINATED IN RACISM - THAT LEOPARD IS STARTING TO SHOW HER STRIPES. WITHOUT YOUR VOTE,SHE IS NOTHING !!!! IF SHE RAIL-ROADS OBAMA, SCREW THAT LEOPARD REAL GOOD - STAY HOME !!!!

goin2dahdumps 09:41:47 AM May 12 2008

BLACKS, GET IT LIKE I KNOW IT: IF THE CLINTONS WIN THE NOMINATION, COMES NOVEMBER, STAY HOME AND LET McCAIN WALK AWAY WITH THE WHITE HOUSE. YES, I REALIZE HE'LL KEEP OUR NATION IN DAH-DUMPS, BUT THEN AGAIN, IT'S ALSO WHAT THEM CLINTONS WILL DO - FOR THEY'VE BOTH BEEN BOUGHT AND PAID FOR BY THE SAME PEOPLE- THE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS.
MINORITIES, THERE IS JUST NO WAY IN HELL SHE CAN WIN THE WHITE HOUSE WITHOUT YOUR VOTE; I NO LONGER SUPPORT HER FOR, IN A DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO GRAB A NOMINATION THAT IS SLIPPING AWAY FROM HER GRASP, SHE'S REVERTED TO PLAYING THE RACE CARD - THUS SHOWING THE NATION, SHE'S JUST ANOTHER OF THOSE BITTER SMALL PEOPLE MARINATED IN RACISM - THAT LEOPARD IS STARTING TO SHOW HER STRIPES. WITHOUT YOUR VOTE,SHE IS NOTHING !!!! IF SHE RAIL-ROADS OBAMA, SCREW THAT LEOPARD REAL GOOD - STAY HOME !!!!

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