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Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) rallied her Capitol Hill supporters on Wednesday night, telling them to bring an uncommitted friend and seeking to capitalize on her 41-percentage points victory in the West Virginia primary.
But as she was scheduled to gather with her supporters, rival Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) grabbed another one — former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) endorsed him at a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Despite this blow, which handed Obama the support of a candidate whose appeal was largely to blue-collar workers, Clinton used the meeting at the Sewell-Belmont House to drive home the point that she is more competitive with precisely that category of voter, and in districts where Democrats will face their toughest races this fall.
Clinton’s senior campaign adviser, Harold Ickes, met her congressional whip team Wednesday morning to make clear that she intends to stay in the race until June 3, the date of the last primary, despite recent speculation that she might drop her bid after Oregon and Kentucky hold primaries on May 20.
After Clinton lost North Carolina by 14 points and barely won Indiana a week ago, falling further behind in the race for delegates, supporters such as Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Mich.) said she should consider quitting.
Clinton fueled speculation that she might halt her campaign by sending a thank-you video to supporters before Tuesday’s primary. In it, she mentioned the next week’s contests but not primaries scheduled for June in Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota.
“He made it very clear she’s in it through June 3,” said Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), a Clinton supporter, referring to Ickes.
Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), another backer who was there, said Clinton’s whips were instructed to do everything they could to keep uncommitted superdelegates from making endorsements, despite pronouncements by many analysts that Obama has clinched the Democratic presidential nomination.
Clinton also scheduled one-on-one meetings Wednesday with undeclared superdelegates such as Reps. John Tierney (D-Mass.) and Bob Etheridge (D-N.C.), following similar meetings with Reps. John Spratt (D-S.C.) and Zack Space (D-Ohio) last week.
Clinton and her allies now argue that she is more popular than Obama in states and districts expected to be the most important battlegrounds before November.
“We’re going to press our case with superdelegates … that based on the results of the primary so far, Sen. Clinton would be our best nominee against [Sen.] John McCain [R-Ariz.],” said Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson in a conference call with reporters.
Campaign officials highlighted to neutral superdelegates in Congress that Clinton has won many more red-to-blue districts than Obama. These are former Republican districts that Democrats captured in 2006.
“She is best positioned to win swing states against John McCain,” said Wolfson. “Sen. Clinton is our best nominee. People waking up today are looking at results in West Virginia and saying, ‘Let’s slow this thing down.’ ”
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