The former first lady was on course for a handy win in one of the poorest US states, according to the latest polls, but that appears unlikely to break Obama's stranglehold on delegate math, as it stands now, when it comes to the nomination race.

Yesterday the two senators had a close encounter as they made a rare appearance in Congress for a series of votes.

As she walked into the Capitol building, Clinton was asked how she felt about West Virginia and replied "excellent".

At one point, the Illinois senator approached Clinton and patted her on the shoulder and the arm, and she smiled broadly, as they exchanged a few words before he left the Senate chamber.

The two candidates are running virtually neck and neck in the popular vote, showing an almost 50-50 split support among potential Democratic Party voters in the primaries.

Obama, who was riding high in February and March has lost momentum over the past six weeks.

His recent win in North Carolina, where he was boosted by a strong African American demographic, would have come as a relief - even though it was not as sweeping a win as had been predicted.

At one point Obama had been 26 points up in the polls.

He won handily enough - by 14% - but not by the margin his team had hoped.

Ahead of North Carolina, pundits had touted a 15 per cent to 20 per cent win as "ideal".

He lost Indiana though, despite his volunteers pouring into the state and his team outspending Clinton on advertising by on average 3-1.

Obama had initially predicted he would take Indiana, but the people denied him.

And after the Indiana poll some of his supporters yet again found themselves facing allegations of poll fraud, most especially in the state's Lake County.

'NO QUITTER' Clinton, who doesn't know the meaning of quit, overcame all the odds in Indiana to grit out her narrow win, keeping alive her slim hopes of still getting the nomination.

The Senator from New York has been counted out numerous times since January, but has pulled off formidable fightbacks in key Democratic states.

Obama has gone for the knockout punch five times, but has failed to floor his opponent - from New Hampshire to Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania and Indiana - despite his heavily bankrolled best efforts.

Not only has Clinton been counted out, she has faced raw sexism, been negatively profiled by the mainstream media, which has not even tried to hide that it is in the tank for Obama, and has seen some of the liberal establishment in the Democratic Party try to strangle her campaign.

Among others, big names like Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi and Ted Kennedy have all but said that Clinton should drop out and leave the race to Obama; they have inferred that superdelegates could freely back Obama but would be frowned upon if they threw in their lot with Clinton.

Against a background of attempts to discourage support for her and indirectly squeeze her campaign financially, Clinton has proved to be a profile in courage.

Her rallying cry has remained that every vote should count, and that every potential voter in every state should be given the opportunity to exercise their democratic right to choose a candidate.

POLL GAMES Meanwhile, the former governor of Colorado Roy Romer and Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe yesterday denied they were exerting pressure on Clinton to bow out.

"We're definitely not going to declare victory," Plouffe said, while adding that Obama was now close to a "very achievable number" of delegates required to go over the Democratic winning line of 2 025.

Clinton's campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, said the senator was on course for a blowout win in West Virginia that would right her White House bid.

"The momentum is with Hillary," he said on MSNBC television.

"There are seven million people yet to vote.

They ought to have a say," McAuliffe said, looking ahead to five more nominating contests after West Virginia, ending June 3.

"Hillary is still in this race.

She can still win this race."

Clinton campaigned hard in the state, arguing: "West Virginia has a record of picking presidents."

An ABC News-Washington Post poll published yesterday suggested that nearly two-thirds of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents want Clinton to stay in the contest.

However, it is likely that the patriarchs of the Democratic Party, who appear to have adopted Obama as the insider candidate, will continue to try and undermine Clinton's bid.

When Kennedy faced off against Jimmy Carter in 1964, he was over 700 delegates behind Carter but was allowed to take his case to the Democratic Convention.

The same approach has not been in play in the case of Clinton, who has been in a tight race with Obama.

This has angered large numbers of voters who see it as a case of 'once again a woman must just step aside for a man'.

Various reports, Nampa-AFP-AP, Jean Sutherland

World News Headlines Of The Last 48 Hours