MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Hillary and Obama determined to fight to the very end

Hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama entered Wednesday the final phase of the US Democratic presidential primary with Clinton saying her decisive Pennsylvania win proved she was the best candidate to beat Republican John McCain in the race for the White House.

Mrs. Clinton underlined her win over Obama in the Pennsylvania primary showed she could gather a broad base of support even when she still cannot match the Illinois senator in elected delegates. However the super-delegates could give Hillary the nomination if they think she's in a better condition to defeat McCain. Her victory in Pennsylvania was also a boost for her depleted campaign funds. Mrs. Clinton said Obama's failure to knock her out of the race, despite outspending her in Pennsylvania more than 2-to-1, cast doubt on his ability to capture the big states Democrats need in November's election race against Republican John McCain. "I've won the states we have to win -- Ohio, now Pennsylvania" Clinton told CNN. "If you look at the broad base of support that I have accumulated, it really is the foundation on which we build our victory come the fall". The results in Pennsylvania, which Mrs. Clinton claimed to be an "overwhelming victory", showed 54.3% for Clinton and 45.7% for Obama. This means Barack now has 1.481 pledged delegates; 233 super delegates totaling 1.714 while Hillary has 1.331 pledged delegates; 258 super delegates, adding up to 1.589, but both short of the 2,024 needed to clinch the nomination. Mr Obama told the audience at a town hall meeting in Indiana not to be worried about the apparently divisive campaigns being fought by the two Democratic candidates. "The Democratic Party is going to recognise that, as soon as we have nominee, there us too much at stake for us to be divided" he said. "They will see the choice between John McCain and the Democratic nominee and see that there is a clear choice. We know what they are offering - more of the same". His speech on Wednesday focused more on attacking the policies of Mr McCain than Mrs Clinton. Both candidates are now looking for the next round of contests on May 6 in North Carolina, where Obama is favored, and Indiana, which is considered a toss-up. The two states have a combined 187 delegates at stake. However neither candidate is expected to win sufficient pledged delegates to seal the nomination in the remaining primaries, which is why the candidates are focusing on the 800 or so unelected "super-delegates" to decide the outcome at the Democratic convention in August. Mrs. Clinton has won most of the contests in the big states. She repeatedly argues that only she will be able to secure wins in critical large states come November's presidential election. Mr Obama has dismissed the big-state argument, saying there was "no chance" of the Democrats losing New York or California in the presidential election, no matter who the candidate was.