Clinton Takes Pennsylvania

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Pennsylvania Casts Its Vote

After seven weeks of campaigning for the state, Sen. Hillary Clinton wins the Pa. primary, bolstering her case for staying in the race against Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination. The outcome further muddles a race that has stretched on for nearly four months and sharply divided the party.

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Clinton acknowledged her financial predicament in her victory speech, urging supporters to send the money she needs to keep going through to the final primaries. "Tonight more than ever, I need your help to continue this journey," she said. "We can only keep winning if we can keep competing against an opponent who outspends us so massively." Late Tuesday, her campaign said it had received $2.5 million in contributions in the hours after the race was called.

Throughout the seven-week contest in Pennsylvania, party leaders watched nervously as the two Democrats engaged in an increasingly divisive campaign that culminated in an exchange of negative television ads.

The final days of the contest had something of an anticlimactic feel, as the campaigns debated what margin of victory Clinton would need to claim momentum heading into the next round of voting.

Her campaign hoped a resounding win would help move into her column undecided party superdelegates, a group of several hundred party leaders and officeholders who are likely to determine the eventual nominee. Clinton's closing argument in Pennsylvania resembled her core rationale for running in the first place: She said she is better able to beat Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the presumed GOP nominee, in the general election; is most qualified to serve as commander in chief; and is uniquely suited for the presidency based on her life experience. She ran an ad invoking Harry S. Truman, challenging her rivals to get "out of the kitchen" if they cannot stand the heat that comes with a race for the White House. The Obama campaign said the ad was an attempt to inject scare tactics into the competition, noting the use of an image of Osama bin Laden in the spot.

What momentum Obama seemed to have -- aided by media scrutiny of Clinton's inaccurate recounting of a 1996 trip to Bosnia -- appeared to stall about 10 days before votes were cast, when news broke of his comments about small-town residents who "cling" to guns and religion because Washington has let them down.

The remarks forced Obama to play defense for nearly a week. Just as he appeared to be regaining his footing, he struggled through a debate with Clinton in Philadelphia after being hit with a series of tough questions -- including why he does not wear an American flag pin on his lapel and about his relationship with a former member of the radical group the Weather Underground.

With the primary less than a week away, Obama was again forced off message. He campaigned through the state aggressively, hitting all four corners and much of its conservative heartland.

Usually accompanied by his highest-profile backer in the state, Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr., he visited bars, factories and bowling alleys. He held smaller town hall meetings instead of big rallies, seeking to neutralize Clinton's support in individual congressional districts to limit her take of pledged delegates.

His weekly ad spending topped $3 million, for a total of around $12 million in the campaign here. Voters appeared to be paying close attention. Obama drew his biggest crowd of the campaign Friday night in downtown Philadelphia, with 35,000 people stretching over three blocks.

In Indiana on Tuesday night, he tried to look ahead to his hoped-for showdown with McCain, while at the same time continuing his case against the primary opponent he has been unable to shake.

"We can be a party that says and does whatever it takes to win the next election. We can calculate and poll-test our positions and tell everyone exactly what they want to hear," he said. "Or we can be the party that doesn't just focus on how to win but why we should. We can tell everyone what they need to hear about the challenges we face. We can seek to regain not just an office, but the trust of the American people that their leaders in Washington will tell them the truth. That's the choice in this election."

Polling director Jon Cohen, polling analyst Jennifer Agiesta and staff writers Paul Kane, traveling with Obama in Pennsylvania, and Alec MacGillis in Washington contributed to this report.