http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/clinton/2008/05/06/94001.html
Hillary Clinton Pledges to Press Ahead After Loss in N.C.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
INDIANAPOLIS -- Hillary Rodham Clinton pledged to keep going full
throttle for the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday after
losing North Carolina and facing a strong challenge from Barack Obama
in Indiana.
With thousands of votes yet to be counted in Indiana, Clinton claimed
victory there and pronounced it the tiebreaker in her favor.
"Tonight, we've come from behind. We've broken the tie, and thanks to
you, it's full speed on to the White House," Clinton told hundreds of
sup****ters in downtown Indianapolis. Former President Clinton and
daughter Chelsea were by her side.
Underscoring the difficulty of her effort to block Obama from claiming
the Democratic nomination, Clinton also made a direct fundraising
appeal to backers to help her compete against his better-financed
operation.
"I need your help to continue our journey," Clinton said. "This has
always been your campaign, and this is your victory because your
sup****t has meant the difference between winning and losing."
"I hope you will go to HillaryClinton.com and sup****t our campaign,"
she added.
Clinton spoke before it was certain that she had won Indiana. Clinton
led narrowly in the state, and Obama said it appeared Clinton had won
there. But thousands of votes had yet to be counted, principally in
Lake County, a heavily black area not far from Obama's home city of
Chicago.
Clinton noted the back-and-forth nature of the protracted fight: "I
win, he wins. I win, he wins. It's so close."
Then, in what was perhaps a nod to her uphill struggle to overcome
Obama's delegate lead, she pledged anew that she'll swing behind the
Democratic nominee "no matter what happens."
She pledged to press on for the nomination, saying: "These next
primaries are another test. I will work my heart out in West Virginia
and Kentucky. I intend to win them in November."
Clinton hoped an Indiana victory would give her fresh talking points
as she works to convince voters yet to cast their ballots and
undecided superdelegates _ elected Democratic officials _ to side with
her in the puni****ngly long nomination fight.
The New York senator was heading back to Wa****ngton late Tuesday. Her
only public appearance Wednesday was an evening fundraiser. She
planned to return to the campaign trail Thursday with events in at
least one of the remaining states to vote.
Once the Democratic front-runner, Clinton sustained a series of losses
to Obama early in the year and in the months since has been slowly
clawing her way back into the thick of the race.
Over the past two months, she scored a couple of big-state wins as
Obama faltered amid the controversy surrounding his former pastor, the
Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and Obama's own comment that people from small
towns cling to guns and religion because they are bitter.
Seeking to take advantage of that op****tunity, Clinton retooled her
campaign to focus on producing results for an anxious middle class and
started aggressively courting white, working-class voters at a time of
economic anxiety. With that strategy, she triumphed last month in
Pennsylvania and kept her candidacy alive.
She used the same bread-and-butter message in Indiana and North
Carolina, and the final days of those primaries were dominated by
Clinton's call for a summertime suspension of the federal gasoline
tax.
Despite her progress, the math in the race to rack up the 2,025
delegates needed to clinch the nomination still favors Obama; he leads
Clinton in delegates won in primaries and caucuses, and has steadily
whittled away at Clinton's advantage in superdelegates over the past
two weeks.
It will be difficult _ if not impossible _ for Clinton to overtake him
even if she manages to win a chunk of the states left to vote and
convinces many of the unaligned superdelegate to break her way.
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