US:WEST VIRGINIA voters went to the polls yesterday as Barack Obama picked up more superdelegate endorsements, but a new poll showed most Democrats want Hillary Clinton to remain in the race.
Mrs Clinton was expecting a big victory in West Virginia last night but Mr Obama sought to play down the primary's significance, spending the day in Missouri while his campaign trumpeted its expanding delegate lead.
Mr Obama has won 26 superdelegate endorsements in the past week, gaining support at a rate that could put him over the target of 2,025 delegates before the final primaries on June 3rd.
Former Colorado governor and Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman Roy Romer announced his support for the Illinois senator yesterday, declaring that it was time for superdelegates to end the primary race. "The math is controlling," he said. "This race, I believe, is over."
Mrs Clinton has insisted that she will remain in the race until all remaining states have voted, despite campaign debts of at least $20 million.
The former first lady is expected to win primaries in Kentucky next week and in Puerto Rico on June 1st and her campaign hopes that a ruling by the DNC's rules and bylaws committee on May 31st will resolve the status of disputed primaries in Florida and Michigan in her favour.
Despite Mr Obama's advantage in delegates and popular vote, 64 per cent of Democrats in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll say that Mrs Clinton should remain in the race. Even among Mr Obama's supporters, 42 per cent say she should not withdraw.
Mrs Clinton's campaign hopes that a big win in West Virginia will reinforce her message that she remains the candidate best placed to defeat Republican John McCain in November.
"I think Democrats across the country tomorrow will be asking themselves why Senator Obama - with all of his money, with all of the great press, with voters being told he was the inevitable nominee - why did Senator Obama lose West Virginia by 15 points or so? What does it say about his candidacy at this date that he can't beat Senator Clinton in a key swing state?" campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson told NBC's Today yesterday.