Clinton defeats Obama in Pa. primary

PHILADELPHIA -- Hillary Rodham Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary Tuesday night, defeating Barack Obama and staving off elimination in their race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

"Some counted me out and said to drop out," the former first lady told supporters cheering her triumph in a state where she was outspent by more than two-to-one. "But the American people don't quit. And they deserve a president who doesn't quit, either.

"Because of you, the tide is turning."

Her victory, while comfortable, set up another critical test in two weeks time in Indiana. North Carolina votes the same night, with Obama already the clear favorite in a state with a large black population.

In Pennsylvania, Clinton was winning 55 percent of the vote to 45 percent for her rival with 94 percent counted, and she hoped for significant inroads into Obama's overall lead in the competition for delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

An early tabulation showed her gaining at least 52 national convention delegates, with 60 more still to be awarded.

Clinton scored her victory by winning the votes of blue-collar workers, women and white men in an election where the economy was the dominant concern. Obama was favored by blacks, the affluent and voters who recently switched to the Democratic Party, a group represented about one in ten Pennsylvania voters, according to the surveys conducted by The Associated Press and the TV networks.

More than 80 percent of voters surveyed as they left their polling places said the nation was already in a recession.

The victory gave Clinton a strong record in the big states as she attempts to persuade convention superdelegates to look past Obama's delegate advantage and his lead in the popular vote in picking a nominee. She had previously won primaries in Texas, California, Ohio and her home state of New York, while Obama won his home state of Illinois.

The latest tabulation of delegates left Obama with an overall lead of 1648.5 to 1537.5, totals that include the superdelegates who are not picked in primaries and caucuses.

The remaining Democratic contests are primaries in North Carolina, Indiana, Oregon, Kentucky, West Virginia, Montana, South Dakota and Puerto Rico, and caucuses in Guam.