Clinton wins in Pennsylvania, looks to Indiana

BY GLENN THRUSH | nia.henderson@newsday.com jennifer.maloney@newsday.com

11:02 PM EDT, April 22, 2008

PHILADELPHIA - Hillary Rodham Clinton celebrated a solid win in Pennsylvania Tuesday, even as her tapped-out campaign raced to raise enough cash to compete in the do-or-die Indiana primary two weeks from now.

Clinton led Barack Obama 55 percent to 45 percent, with 93 percent of votes counted. Early estimates showed her with a net gain of 20 delegates.

The win bolsters Clinton's argument that she's dominated Obama in big states Democrats need to win in November -- but does little to change the reality that she needs landslides in all nine remaining contests. Going into Tuesday's primary, Obama had 1,648 delegates to Clinton's 1,509, according to an Associated Press count.

"Some people counted me out and said to drop out, but the American people don't quit and they deserve a president who won't quit either," said Clinton, flanked by Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea at the Park Hyatt here Tuesday night. "The tide is turning ... broke several spending records trying to knock us out of the race, but the people of Pennsylvania had other ideas today."

Even as their candidate rejoiced, Clinton advisers, speaking on condition of anonymity, admitted she needs to win Indiana May 6 -- and that she'll need to raise at least a million dollars over the next 24 hours to kick-start a renewed Internet fundraising push. They more than met their mark, raising $2.5 million online Tuesday, according to spokesman Mo Eileithee.

"Take about a five-hour break and let's get ready for Indiana," said Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, speaking at Clinton's victory celebration. Despite owing $10.3 million in debt, Clinton and her staff say she intends to pursue victory seriously in the North Carolina primary, also May 6.

Obama, who outspent Clinton on TV advertising by a more than 2-to-1 margin in the Keystone State, almost overcame Clinton's 20-point lead of two months ago, partly on the strength of a massive campaign to register new voters in Philadelphia.

While Clinton won easily in white working-class areas in the central and western parts of the state, Obama dominated among African-American voters as never before, besting Clinton by 91 percent to 8 percent, according to exit polls.

But the Illinois senator failed to make significant inroads among Catholic voters, despite a major outreach effort, with Clinton winning among that group 69 percent to 31 percent. Catholics, who made up 37 percent of the electorate in yesterday's contest, are a swing voting group that has played a significant, perhaps decisive role, in recent general elections.

"I want to thank the hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians who stood with our campaign today," Obama told an audience in Evansville, Ind., late Tuesday night. "There were a lot of folks who didn't think we could make this a close race when it started. But we worked hard and we traveled across the state we closed the gap."

In a possible harbinger of Democratic disunity, exit polls suggested that the biggest winner of the bruising, six-week Pennsylvania campaign may have been John McCain. Only 38 percent of Clinton voters say they would vote for Obama against the presumptive GOP nominee this fall.

With time running out -- and the numbers favoring Obama -- Clinton's campaign is outlining a new strategy for victory predicated on her overcoming Obama's current edge in the popular vote. Campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe yesterday predicted Clinton will move ahead in the popular vote by the end of balloting in early June, if the disqualified Florida voters are reinstated by the Democratic National Committee.

Earlier, Obama's top strategist David Axelrod tried to raise expectations for Clinton, saying that any victory below double digits would be considered a major disappointment.

"I think a win is a win," Clinton told reporters at a morning stop in Conshohocken, a predominantly-white Philadelphia suburb. "I think maybe the question ought to be, why can't he close the deal with his extraordinary financial advantage? ... Why can't he close the deal? Why can't he win a state like this?"

Still, the senator had to endure a potentially damaging outburst from Bill Clinton, who told a Philadelphia radio station Monday that Obama had played the "race card" against him during the divisive Jan. 26 South Carolina primary. The former president later backtracked from his remarks -- and his wife refused to say whether she agreed with him during her morning campaign appearance.