Washington: Sen. Hillary Clinton on Tuesday used her big win in West Virginia to make her case that the Democratic race should go on.
"I am more determined than ever to carry on this campaign," she told supporters in Charleston, West Virginia.
As early results came in, Clinton was ahead of Sen. Barack Obama by about a 2-1 margin.
Clinton has faced calls to drop out of the race. She trails Obama in delegates won, states won and the popular vote this primary season. Clinton also now trails Obama when it comes to the support of superdelegates, and her campaign is $20 million in the red.
Howard Wolfson, Clinton's communication director, said the New York senator is "in until the very end."
"We think we're going to be the nominee. We're going to make our case to the superdelegates," he told CNN.
In an e-mail to supporters, the Clinton campaign called West Virginia a "tremendous victory."
"It's clear that the pundits declaring this race over have it all wrong. The voters in West Virginia spoke loud and clear -- they want this contest to go on."
Clinton's campaign argues that she can catch Obama in the popular vote by turning out the vote in the remaining five contests.
West Virginia is home to older, white and working-class voters -- all strong voting blocs for Clinton in past contests.
Just 3 per cent of the population is black. Obama has overwhelmingly capture the black vote throughout the campaign season.
Clinton's win won't do much to cut into Obama's lead -- West Virginia had just 28 delegates at stake. Those delegates will be awarded proportionately.
Clinton has continued to tout her electability, saying she's the stronger candidate to go up against Sen. John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee, in November.
"I'm winning Catholic voters and Hispanic voters and blue-collar workers and seniors, the kind of people that Sen. McCain will be fighting for in the general election," Clinton said.
Clinton is also using electoral history to make her case.
"I think it's fair to say that West Virginia is a test. It's a test for me, and it's a test for Sen. Obama, because for too long we have let places like West Virginia slip out of the Democratic column. And you know it is a fact that no Democratic president has ever won the White House since 1916 without winning West Virginia," Clinton said.
Bill Clinton won West Virginia in 1992 and 1996. George W. Bush took the state in 2000 and 2004.
Exit polls in West Virginia suggest a strong division among Democrats.
Almost as many of Clinton's West Virginia supporters would vote for McCain as would for Obama, the polls show.
If Obama were the Democratic nominee, 36 per cent of Clinton supporters would vote for him in the fall, the polls found.
But 35 per cent said they'd cast their vote for McCain instead.
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A bare majority of his West Virginia supporters -- 51 per cent -- said they would back Clinton in the fall, but 31 per cent said they'd vote for McCain.
Clinton was to be in Charleston, West Virginia, on Tuesday night for a victory celebration.
With a relatively large per centage of older voters and blue-collar workers, a dearth of upscale voters and a tiny African-American population, West Virginia appeared to be a perfect demographic fit for Clinton.
But even a landslide victory in tiny West Virginia may not be enough to blunt Obama's momentum.
On Tuesday, Obama appeared to be looking ahead to a general election fight with McCain.
Instead of campaigning in West Virginia, he planned to be in Washington to vote for a bill meant to protect the collective bargaining rights of police officers and firefighters. He was to then travel to Missouri and Michigan for campaign events.
Both states have voted this primary season but are considered swing states that Democrats and Republicans have in their sights for November.
Clinton said she's fighting on, telling a West Virginia crowd Sunday that "I guess my favorite message was from a woman named Angela. 'Keep strong,' she said, 'it's not over until the lady in the pantsuit says it is.' "
Like elsewhere in the country, the West Virginia voters are dealing with tough economic times.
According to exit polls, the economy is the top issue among the state's Democratic voters.
And that's not lost on Clinton, who is touting her plan, which was first proposed by McCain, to repeal the federal gas tax this summer.
"I want to give you a gas tax holiday this summer, and I want the oil companies to pay the gas tax out of their record profits," Clinton told West Virginia voters Monday. "Now, you may have heard something about this on the news, because it's controversial. My opponent, Sen. Obama, says, 'Oh, no, that's just a gimmick; that's not going to help people.' "
But tough talk like that seems to be the exception. Since last Tuesday, when she eked out a victory in Indiana but lost by double digits in North Carolina, Clinton appears to have toned down her rhetoric about her rival.
Obama earlier acknowledged that he would not win in West Virginia. Monday's single campaign event was his only campaign stop in the state in recent weeks.
He told the audience gathered at the Charleston Civic Center that "I'm extraordinarily honored that some of you will support me, and I understand that many more here in West Virginia will probably support Sen. Clinton."
After West Virginia, the campaign trail moves to Kentucky and Oregon, which vote in one week. Clinton is expected to do well in Kentucky, but Obama is the favorite to win Oregon.
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