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Clinton Beats Obama in Puerto Rico

Sen. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) emerged victorious in Puerto Rico's primary Sunday. As she and her rival Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) continue the fight for the Democratic nomination, they turn to voters in South Dakota and Montana, hoping to win support ahead of the final state primaries on June 3, 2008.
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washingtonpost.com staff writer
Sunday, June 1, 2008; 2:03 PM

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton claimed an overwhelming win over Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) in today's Puerto Rico primary, a victory that may well be her last in her fading bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Polls closed in Puerto Rico at 3 p.m. Eastern time and the race was called for Clinton almost immediately by the major television networks and the Associated Press. Clinton ran better than 2 to 1 ahead of Obama, according to CNN exit polling, and she dominated among both men and women in all age, education and income groups.

Clinton's strong showing is in line with how she has done among Hispanic Catholics across all primaries so far, 69 percent to 29 percent. Among all Hispanics, Clinton has outpaced Obama, 61 percent to 35 percent, in all previous contests with exit polls.

For Clinton, the win provides a quick bounce-back from her campaign's resounding setback on Saturday at the hands of the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee, which ruled in Obama's favor in a dispute over the seating of the Florida and Michigan delegations, but does little to change the overarching dynamic of the primary fight.

Still, she claimed today's vote as "another great victory," and noted in a message to supporters that: "Every time the pundits count us out -- every time they declare the race over -- you, the voters, send a clear message that you have another idea. And you and I just keep winning races together."

While Clinton will win a clear majority of Puerto Rico's 55 delegates, she will still stand well behind Obama in the overall count. Coming into today's vote, Obama had 2,052 delegates, 66 short of clinching the nomination. Clinton had a total of 1,877 delegates.


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