Clinton Defeats Obama in Pennsylvania Primary

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) claimed a much needed victory over Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) in Pennsylvania tonight, her fourth victory in the last five contests in the Democratic presidential race.

ABC, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, the Associated Press and Reuters all declared Clinton the winner, and Clinton was also leading in the early vote returns. With 66 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton led Obama, 54 percent to 46 percent.

"It's a long road to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and it runs right through the heart of Pennsylvania," Clinton said at a victory rally in Philadelphia tonight. "You know the stakes are high and the challenges are great. But you also know the possibilities," she told the assembled crowd that began chanting, "Yes We Can", a takeoff on Obama's familiar "Yes We Can" motto.

Clinton seemed determined to remain in the contest, insisting that the American people were owed a "president who won't quit" and predicted that "the tide is turning."

Clinton's win came after a six-week campaign that saw her double-digit lead shrink beneath an onslaught of television ads by Obama, who outspent Clinton by at least two-to-one in the state.

"Hillary Clinton was once again able to win one of the key Democratic states that we need to win in the general election," said Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe in an interview on CNN. "Hillary has proven she is the one best able to take on Senator John McCain in the fall."

McAuliffe cautioned viewers not to"write off" Clinton, arguing that Obama's campaign "couldn't put us away here, they couldn't put us away in Texas."

Clinton's victory ensures that she will continue in the campaign for the presidential nomination at least through the May 6 primaries in Indiana and North Carolina. The longer-term impact of Pennsylvania's vote, however, will be determined by Clinton's margin of victory today. A small single-digit margin for Clinton would likely be portrayed by her opponents and the media as a loss as she would not make a serious dent in Obama's lead among pledged delegates and in the popular vote count. A bigger win could give Clinton the momentum she needs to make a serious push in the final weeks of the nomination fight to overcome Obama's advantages.

Even Clinton's staunchest allies acknowledge that unless she is able to shrink Obama's leads among pledged delegates and the raw vote before June 3, when South Dakota and Montana close the nomination fight, she will struggle to make the case to superdelegates that she is the better choice against McCain in the fall.

Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain rolled to a largely uncontested victory in the Republican primary. McCain (Ariz.), who has had his party's nomination locked up for more than a month, faced no serious opposition, although former foes Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul were still on the ballot. McCain spent Election Day in Youngstown, Ohio.

The Democratic race was an entirely different story, a slugfest befitting the high stakes for both candidates. Clinton looked to Pennsylvania's primary vote to provide her yet another important victory in her uphill fight for the Democratic presidential nomination. Obama saw the Keystone State as another chance to lock up the nomination with an upset win over the New York senator.

Preliminary exit polling suggested the increasingly negative tone of the final days of the contest had made an impression with voters. Nearly two-thirds of respondents said Clinton had "unfairly attacked" Obama while roughly half of those interviewed said Obama had attacked Clinton unfairly. Those are the highest numbers on that particular exit poll question since the Florida primary early this year.