Clinton presses on, urges
supporters to ignore calls to quit
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Democrat
Hillary Rodham Clinton said Barack Obama's support among working,
white Americans has diminished. Her fresh comments about race
dogged her Thursday as she pressed on with her struggling candidacy.
Her voice raspy, her tone determined,
the former first lady raced into a long West Virginia-to-the-West
Coast campaign day, declaring she would move forward with her
presidential effort and insisting anew that she, not Obama, would
be the stronger Democratic candidate to face Republican John
McCain in November.
In an interview with USA Today
published Thursday, Clinton noted that the coalition of voters
who have supported her in the Democratic nominating contest had
eluded Obama and would pose problems for him in the general election.
"Senator Obama's support
among working, hardworking Americans, white Americans, is weakening
again ... there's a pattern here," Clinton was quoted as
saying.
The Obama campaign did not respond
to the remarks, which generated buzz in the liberal blogosphere.
Working-class whites overwhelmingly
favor Clinton over Obama, and their view of the Illinois senator
has grown increasingly negative since late last year, according
to Associated Press-Yahoo News polling. In an AP-Yahoo survey
a month ago, more than half - or 53 percent - of whites who have
not finished college had negative impressions of Obama, up a
12 points since November.
Data from exit polls also show
that Obama's problem with working-class whites persists. About
six in 10 of them voted for Clinton in primaries on Super Tuesday
(Feb. 5) and earlier, and they have leaned toward her slightly
more since then. On Tuesday, Clinton was supported by 65 percent
of whites who have not finished college in Indiana and 71 percent
of them in North Carolina.
With virtually no chance of catching
Obama in the popular vote or among pledged delegates, Clinton
and her strategists have pinned their hope on persuading superdelegates
- elected officials and party activists - that she would be the
stronger Democrat to run against McCain.
Harold Ickes, who heads the Clinton
campaign's outreach to superdelegates, has acknowledged discussing
Obama's controversial former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, with superdelegates,
saying Wright's incendiary anti-American sermons and other comments
could alienate voters in the fall.
At a rally under the dome of
the West Virginia Capitol, Clinton dismissed calls for her to
drop out as "deja vu all over again." She said she
had faced similar pressure before going on to win primaries in
New Hampshire, Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania.
She made her case for pressing
on, and thanked her supporters for doing the same.
"A lot of you have stuck
with me. You've been through all the ups and downs in this campaign,
the biggest victories and toughest moments," Clinton said.
"I think it is because you understand that you've got to
have a president who gets up every day and fights for you, who
never gives up on you."
Her fading chances didn't diminish
the loyalty of Evelyn Smith, 78, one of hundreds of supporters
who jammed into the Capitol and waited nearly two hours to hear
Clinton speak.
"It's going to take a miracle
for her to get the nomination, which I could sit down and cry
about because I think she really deserves to be president and
the first lady president," Smith said.
Whatever the odds, Smith said
Clinton should stay in the race until the final contests June
3. She said, "I'm a lot like she is, and I would go to the
finish line even if I came in last and took a fall. I'd make
it to the finish line, and I think she should, too."
Jim Duffield, 64, agreed.
"Of course she should keep
going until we get a winner," he said.
Said Clinton as her audience
cheered: "I'm running to be president of all 50 states.
I think we ought to keep this going so the people of West Virginia's
voices are heard."
In contrast to her confrontational
comments in speeches leading up to recent primaries, Clinton's
only mention of Obama on Thursday was to say next Tuesday's primary
in West Virginia would be a test for both of them. She did highlight
her strengths with various voting blocs through the primaries,
an implicit comparison with her Democratic foe. She said the
states she has won and the voters she has attracted are essential
if the party is to reclaim the White House.
"We need to bring back hardworking
people to the Democratic Party," the New York senator said.
"I'm winning Catholic voters and Hispanic voters, blue-collar
workers and seniors. People Senator McCain will need in the general
election."
She added, "Some call you
swing voters. I call you Americans."
At a rally at an airport hangar
in Sioux Falls, Clinton said, "There are some folks arguing
we should stop voting," Clinton said, eliciting boos. South
Dakota and Montana cast the last primary votes June 3.
In Sioux Falls, Gabriella Collignon
said there was no way Clinton should drop out.
"I think it shows a lot
about her personality that she's going to keep going," Collignon
said.
West Virginia's demographic makeup
of white, older voters favors Clinton. During her appearance
Thursday, she offered the same populist pitch she began making
in the closing days before Indiana and North Carolina voted.
She renewed her call for a summertime
holiday for the federal gasoline tax, with oil companies making
up the difference, a proposal that many economists - and Obama
- have dismissed as a meaningless pander.
The West Virginia rally was the
first event on Clinton's exceptionally busy campaign schedule
Thursday. She also planned an appearance in Oregon.
She is favored to win West Virginia's
primary but has fallen further behind Obama in delegates won
in primaries and caucuses. Her hopes for the Democratic nomination
rest on strong showings in the remaining six contests to convince
more than 200 party elders and other "superdelegates"
to support her.
Obama met in Washington with
superdelegate members of Congress, telling them it was now time
to declare for him. He picked up support from at least two superdelegates:
Reps. Brad Miller of North Carolina, where Obama handily won
the primary this week, and Rick Larsen of Washington state.
© Associated Press reserves
all rights.
|