Not so fast, Democratic voters in West Virginia said, handing Clinton one of the biggest primary victories so far.

In winning, she effusively praised Obama while pledging fight on and to marshal her coalition through the final contests to June 3.

"I deeply admire Senator Obama," she said, "but I believe our case - a case West Virginia has helped to make - our case is stronger."

Senior Clinton campaign officials said the New York senator has stated unequivocally that she intends to remain a candidate through the final primaries in South Dakota and Montana, and will press for the party rules committee to resolve the disputed Michigan and Florida primaries.

"We're not getting out," campaign manager Maggie Williams told the Clinton staff recently, according to a senior campaign adviser who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Period."

Clinton's West Virginia win - coming toward the end of the process - does little to alter the unforgiving political landscape she faces: only a handful of small contests left on the calendar and no indication that the superdelegates who may ultimately select the nominee have been persuaded she is the more electable candidate in the general election.

At the same time, they have not flocked to Obama enmasse yet.

Clinton has won most of the big states regarded as important for the Democrats in a general election, and has outperformed Obama in swing states which could hold the key to the party regaining the White House.

LANDSLIDE The New York senator's win in West Virginia had been expected, but the scale of victory had not - 41 points.

Surveys of voter as they left the polls showed Clinton was running unusually strongly across virtually all demographic groups.

She even led among many groups that Obama typically wins, including voters under age 30, college graduates, independents and the very liberal.

Worryingly for Obama, the exit data said half of all voters believed he shared the race-baiting views of his fiery former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

Obama broke with Wright after he made incendiary anti-American comments at a press conference last month in Washington, though they were no different to statements made in sermons preached during the 20 years Obama was one of Wright's flock, and which the Illinois senator initially defended.

Clinton has performed well among working-class voters throughout the campaign in states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, while Obama has struggled to adapt his message of hope and change to address the economic anxieties those voters face.

That, in turn, has allowed the former first lady to openly question Obama's chances against McCain.

In her victory speech on Tuesday night, Clinton made a direct pitch to superdelegates on the electability argument.

"I want to send a message to everyone who is still making up their minds, I am in this race because I believe I am the strongest candidate," Clinton said.

The New York senator's communications chief, Howard Wolfson, said the West Virginia result should give superdelegates pause for thought.

Pundits had been near-universal in declaring the race to be over, he said on MSNBC television.

"And yet people came out in droves ...

and they voted not just in a narrow way but overwhelmingly for Senator Clinton despite the fact they were told the race was over," Wolfson said.

"She's connecting with the voters the Democrats need to win in November," he said.

"We're looking forward to the next month."

According to a new national poll by Quinnipiac University, 60 per cent of Democrats want Obama to pick Clinton as his vice presidential running mate.

Both candidates have declared such talk to be premature.

The poll also showed that 63 per cent of Democrats wanted Clinton to stay in the primary race.

Democratic strategist Bill Carrick said that the West Virginia results did send a message.

"General elections are a lot different than primaries - partisans in both parties end up voting for the nominee of their party in extreme numbers," Carrick said.

"Having said all that, I think it's important for the Obama campaign to take a look at this, what their message is, and how they are communicating with these voters.

He needs to do a better job of connecting with them."

Still, the West Virginia exit polls hold some sobering news for the Democratic Party.

As has been the case in previous states, a significant amount of both candidates' supporters said they aren't willing to vote for the other candidate in November.

Among Obama supporters, just 51 per cent of West Virginia Democrats say they will vote for Clinton if she is the nominee.

John McCain would get close to a third of Obama's supporters, and 14 per cent said they wouldn't vote at all.

But an even smaller number of Clinton's supporters would back Obama: just 36 per cent say that they would vote for the Illinois senator.

About the same amount, 35 per cent, say they would support McCain and 29 per cent say they wouldn't vote or would vote for someone else.

In Michigan, Obama, who has largely based his economic policy on Clinton's, yesterday rolled out proposals to kickstart US manufacturing including Detroit's beleaguered auto industry, featuring 210 billion dollars of investment in clean technologies and transport infrastructure.

- Nampa-AP-AFP, CNN, Jean Sutherland * For The Record In yesterday's article on the US election, a printers' gremlin messed with a paragraph.

Edward Kennedy faced off against Jimmy Carter in 1980 not in 1964.

Kennedy was well behind Carter in delegates but was allowed to take his case to the Democratic Convention.

Carter defeated Kennedy for the nomination, but lost the election to Republican Ronald Reagan.

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