Democratic
presidential contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham
Clinton were preparing for Tuesday's primary in West
Virginia, a contest that Clinton is heavily favored to
win but which likely won't dent Obama's almost
insurmountable lead in the delegate count.
Obama, moving
closer each day to claiming enough delegates to secure the
nomination, scheduled a campaign appearance Monday in
Charleston; he's also slated to visit Kentucky, which
holds its primary on May 20.
Clinton, who is
struggling to keep her financially strapped campaign
afloat, spent Sunday campaigning in West Virginia.
She made a brief
afternoon visit to the home of Anna Jarvis, who is
credited with founding Mother's Day 100 years ago. Clinton,
who is hoping to become the United States' first woman
president, afterward 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.
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 former
first lady Eleanor Roosevelt: ''A woman is like a tea bag.
You never know how strong she is until she's in hot
water.''
Clinton's visit
highlighted her support among women, white working-class
voters, and older voters. Those demographics make West
Virginia and Kentucky friendly territory where polls
show her leading Obama by as much as 40 percentage
points.
Her chief
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 challenged Obama to beat her
there if the senator from Illinois 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.
But even an
overwhelming win by Clinton in West Virginia, which only has
28 delegates, would not have much of an impact in Obama's
overall delegate lead.
Obama has 1,864.5
delegates and Clinton has 1,697, according to the
latest AP tally; 2,025 are needed to secure the Democratic
nomination.
Obama, who is
vying to become the first black U.S. president, has also
overtaken Clinton in the all-important count of
superdelegates -- the nearly 800 party and elected
officials who are free to support whomever they
choose, regardless of the primary results.
Since neither
Obama nor Clinton is expected to win enough delegates in
the remaining primaries to clinch the nomination at the
Democratic Party national convention in August, the
superdelegates will most likely decide the race.
The New York
senator started the year with a lead of 169-63 among
superdelegates, but was surpassed by Obama, who now has
backing from 276 superdelegates compared with
Clinton's 274.5, according to the latest tally by the
Associated Press.
Obama, who was at
home Sunday taking a day off from the campaign, has
been shifting his campaign focus from the drawn-out
nominating battle with Clinton to the presumptive
Republican nominee, John McCain.
Obama's chief
strategist said in a television interview Sunday that his
campaign is considering a suggestion from McCain's campaign
for the two presidential hopefuls to participate in
joint town meetings and debates around America
starting this summer.
Asked on Fox
News Sunday about the suggestion and how seriously
it was being considered, David Axelrod said: ''Very
seriously.... We believe that is the most significant
election we've faced in a long time.''
''We're at war.
Our economy is in turmoil. And we've got so many
challenges that the people of this country deserve a serious
discourse, and it shouldn't be limited necessarily to
three kinds of very regimented debates in the fall,''
he added, referring to those sanctioned by a
presidential commission.
Axelrod declined
to discuss details. So did aides to McCain, saying they
would rather wait until they have an official opponent.
In a sign of his
new focus on McCain, Obama is beginning to campaign in
states without upcoming primaries. He said he would soon
visit Michigan and Florida, two battleground states
whose Democratic primaries were essentially nullified
by party disputes, and Tuesday he is slated to visit
Missouri for a campaign event focusing on economic issues.
McCain,
meanwhile, reached out to independents and green-minded
social conservatives, arguing that global warming is
undeniable and the U.S. must take steps to bring it
under control.
In remarks
prepared for delivery Monday in Portland, Ore., the
presidential contender says expanded nuclear power must be
considered to reduce carbon-fuel emissions. He also
set a goal that by 2050, the country will reduce
carbon emissions to a level 60% below that emitted in
1990. (AP)
