Clinton Spurns Calls to Quit Race

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Clinton Pushes on to West Virginia

Sen. Hillary Clinton continued her campaign in West Virginia Wednesday, a day after scoring a slight victory in Indiana and losing the North Carolina primary to Sen. Barack Obama.

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Clinton will campaign in West Virginia and South Dakota today, and Oregon and Kentucky tomorrow. Her husband, former president Bill Clinton, has a full day of events in West Virginia today.

Obama picked up four more superdelegates yesterday, including one, Virginia Del. Jennifer L. McClellan, who had previously backed Clinton. In a conference call with reporters, leading Obama supporters urged uncommitted superdelegates to move quickly to support the senator from Illinois. "This is the moment," said Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), the party's 2004 nominee.

Clinton won the endorsement of Rep. Heath Shuler (N.C.), whose district she carried on Tuesday.

Several undecided Democrats indicated that their Obama endorsements were just a matter of time. Rep. Jason Altmire (Pa.), whose district went overwhelmingly for Clinton, said he would nonetheless back Obama if he maintains leads in the major indicators: pledged delegates, states won and popular votes.

But, he said, he will wait to see how the coming contests unfold. "The mountain that I'm giving her to climb is very steep. It's an almost impossible task," he said.

One superdelegate who remains unwaveringly committed to Clinton said it is now "very, very difficult" to envision a scenario under which she could defeat Obama.

"There are a number of reasons for her not to drop out immediately, not the least of which is a lot of people want her to stay in, and how she handles herself from here on out, if she's not the winner, could help pave the way forward for the party," the superdelegate said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk freely about the race.

Another Clinton supporter said privately that the candidate has but one option: "Withdraw gracefully and help unify the party to beat McCain." Asked how quickly she would quit the race, the veteran of past presidential campaigns said he would recommend "as soon as this weekend."

Clinton, determined to show her resilience in the face of the fresh calls to leave the stage, made a midday trip to West Virginia, where she brushed aside questions about whether she risks dividing the party by continuing to run.

"I'm staying in this race until there's a nominee, and I obviously am going to work as hard as I can to become that nominee," she told reporters after giving a short stump speech on the front lawn of a building at Shepherd University.

Clinton was asked about her decision to lend her campaign an additional $6.4 million, which her advisers confirmed yesterday morning. That brings to at least $11 million the amount she has leveraged from her and her husband's personal wealth.

"It's a sign of my commitment to this campaign," Clinton said. "It's a sign of how much I believe in what we're trying to do. My supporters have been incredibly generous. They are putting money into this campaign on an hourly basis."