Clinton Resists Calls To Drop Out

At a campaign event in Pittsburgh, Barack Obama is joined by three supporters familiar to Pennsylvania voters -- former Pittsburgh Steelers Jerome Bettis, center, and Franco Harris, right, and Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (By Alex Brandon -- Associated Press)

But other recent polling has found Democrats' appetite for the extended campaign beginning to wane. A Pew Research Center survey released this week found 44 percent of Democratic voters believed the extended campaign fight is a "good thing" for the party, down from 57 percent in late February.

Responding to a comment from Obama that the Democratic primary race was like a good movie that had gone on too long, Clinton replied: "I like long movies."

Calls for her to withdraw only lead to "a greater determination," Clinton spokesman Jay Carson said. "When the punditocracy has declared her dead, voters have said, 'Hold on just a second.' It has happened three times. And three times, she has proven them wrong."

Although Pennsylvania is favorable terrain for Clinton, who has the backing of the popular governor, Edward G. Rendell, Obama announced that he had won the endorsement of the state's Democratic senator, Robert P. Casey Jr. Casey does not bring the kind of political machine Rendell does, but he is a moderate Democrat and a household name. Casey will join Obama on a bus tour across the state this weekend.

Obama also launched a new ad in Pennsylvania, using a gas-station backdrop to declare: "Exxon's making $40 billion a year and we're paying $3.50 for gas. I'm Barack Obama, and I don't take money from oil companies or lobbyists and I won't let them block change anymore."

This drew an e-mail blast from Clinton's team, which accused him of "false advertising." Her aides said Obama's presidential campaign has received more than $160,000 from oil and gas companies -- including $8,400 from Exxon Mobil and $12,370 from Chevron last month. Two oil-company chief executives have also acted as Obama fundraisers.

But as Obama's campaign was quick to note, he does not accept donations from corporate political action committees or lobbyists. The contributions flagged by Clinton's side come from individual executives and employees in the oil industry. An Obama spokesman accused her of "negative and misleading tactics" and said the energy legislation the freshman lawmaker voted for -- derided by Clinton aides as "the Dick Cheney energy bill" -- raised taxes on oil companies.

Obama made an appearance on an episode of ABC's "The View" and suggested for the first time that he would have left his church over comments made by the pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., if Wright had not retired first. "Had the reverend not retired and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this country, for all its flaws, then I wouldn't have felt comfortable staying there at the church," Obama said in the appearance, which was taped Thursday and aired yesterday.

Staff writer Howard Kurtz contributed to this report.