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CLINTON COUNTRY: Mrs Clinton crushed rival Barack Obama by 67 per cent to 26 per cent in the West Virginia primary. -- ST PHOTO: BHAGYASHREE GAREKAR
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CHARLESTON (WEST VIRGINIA) - IF THE race is over, somebody forgot to tell Senator Hillary Clinton and her supporters.
After a thumping win in the West Virginia primary on Tuesday, she declared herself 'more determined than ever to carry on this campaign until everyone has had a chance to have their voice heard'.
Just the thing her supporters, for whom belief in her mathematically improbable victory is almost an article of faith, wanted to hear.
About 1,000 of them were gathered at the town's Civic Centre, relishing her 67 per cent to 26 per cent win over Senator Barack Obama, waiting to hear her victory speech.
Soccer mums shushed their kids, silver-haired grandpas chuckled, ladies in flowery dresses and ribboned hats swopped notes and men in blue T-shirts that proclaim they are firefighters or members of the letter-carriers union shuffled their feet.
'This is Clinton country,' said Ms Roberta Skiles, a retired state government employee. 'We think her path is difficult but not impossible. She's a tough woman, don't count her out.'
As Mrs Clinton walked in, an hour late, no one checked their watch. The crowd rose to its feet, loud cheers rang out.
'It's not over!' they chanted.
But isn't it?
As the race stands, Mrs Clinton lags Senator Obama by all counts - the number of states won, the delegates and the superdelegate tally as well as the popular vote.
Add her West Virginia win to a couple more victories anticipated over the next few weeks, and it still doesn't level up to his lead.
But in the Clinton camp, it makes sense. By picking up states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, New Hampshire and now West Virginia, Mrs Clinton figures she has hoisted a flag where it counts.
'The White House is won in the swing states, and I am winning the swing states,' she stressed in her speech.
To counter the pressure from the party to quit her campaign, she is also pushing for the disqualified votes from Florida and Michigan to be included in the overall count.
'When you include all 50 states, the number of delegates needed to win is 2,209, and neither of us has reached that threshold yet,' she said.
'You know I never give up. As long as you stand for me, I'll stand for you.'
The crowd erupted in joy.
It appears plenty of Americans are willing to stand for her. Said Ms Melissa Harper, a preschool teacher: 'She has got to go all the way to the convention, otherwise what is the point of it? Why even hold more primaries?'
Others, unsure whether Mrs Clinton will stay on, still have their reasons.
'It's my way of protest, an answer to those who call for her to quit,' said Ms Samantha Chadlow, a guard in the university town of Fairmont, 160km from Charleston.
Set in the sheer beauty of West Virginia's lush-green rolling Appalachian landscape, this is a Clinton stronghold. A town of 20,000 people with a sluggish economy and a high proportion of elderly voters who remember Mr Bill Clinton with affection.
Mrs Clinton made her election-eve appeal for votes here, promising a clean coal project to rev up the economy, but Mr Obama made only one brief stop in West Virginia, ahead of the contest.
Said Mr Brian Cline, a political consultant volunteering with the Clinton campaign: 'She has the broadest coalition, she can still make it. Remember millions of people have still not voted.'
Backed by supporters such as these, Mrs Clinton clearly believes she has a fair chance. Back in Washington DC on Wednesday, she had lined up meetings with donors and undecided superdelegates. Clearly, the fight will go on.
bhagya@sph.com.sg
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