CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Hillary Rodham Clinton has won a large but largely symbolic victory in the West Virginia primary. She defeated Barack Obama, but he's still the leader and closing in on the Democratic presidential nomination.
The Associated Press made its call Tuesday night based on surveys of voters as they left the polls.
Obama conceded defeat in advance in the state as he looked ahead to the Oregon primary later in the month and the campaign against Republican John McCain.
"This is our chance to build a new majority of Democrats and independents and Republicans who know that four more years of George Bush just won't do," Obama said in Missouri, which looms as a battleground state in the fall.
"This is our moment to turn the page on the divisions and distractions that pass for politics in Washington," added the man seeking to become the fist black presidential nominee of a major party.
Interviews with West Virginians leaving their polling places suggested Clinton's victory could be as overwhelming as any she has gained to date, delivered by an overwhelmingly white electorate comprised of the kinds of voters who favored her in past primaries. Nearly a quarter were 60 or older, and a similar number had no education beyond high school. More than half were in families with incomes of $50,000 or less.
For more information see Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.