Hillary Clinton appeared headed to a big West Virginia victory over front-runner Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential race yesterday, although it could be too late to turn around her faltering White House bid.

Clinton has an advantage of at least 20 points in most opinion polls in West Virginia, a bastion of the white working-class voters who have become her strongest supporters in the grueling battle for the Democratic nomination.

But Obama retains a nearly insurmountable advantage in delegates who will select the nominee at the party convention in August. A big win in West Virginia for the cash-strapped Clinton will make barely a dent in Obama's advantage.

West Virginia has just 28 delegates at stake in yesterday's voting..

Clinton, a New York senator who has vowed to keep fighting despite her dwindling prospects and a mounting campaign debt, spent the day in West Virginia on Monday and showed no sign she was ready to step aside so Obama could focus on a November match-up with Republican John McCain.

Obama, already looking to November, made a quick appearance in West Virginia on Monday and announced plans to visit general election battlegrounds Missouri, Michigan and Florida over the next week.

"The Democrats are going to unify, and we're trying to get some independents and we're trying to get some Republicans," Obama said at an evening rally in Louisville, Kentucky, which holds a nominating contest on May 20.

After West Virginia, five more contests remain in the Democratic nominating battle with a combined 189 delegates at stake. Oregon and Kentucky vote on May 20, while Puerto Rico votes on June 1 and Montana and South Dakota vote on June 3.

An MSNBC count gives Obama 1,869 delegates to Clinton's 1,703, leaving him 156 short of the 2,025 needed to clinch the nomination. But neither can win without help from superdelegates - nearly 800 party officials who are free to back any candidate.

Agencies

(China Daily 05/14/2008 page10)