WASHINGTON—Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama entered the final phase of an increasingly nasty U.S. presidential fight on Wednesday, and Clinton said her decisive Pennsylvania win proved she was the best candidate to lead the Democrats back to the White House.
Clinton's victory boosted her depleted bank account and gave new hope to her struggling campaign, but the New York senator still faces a daunting task trying to overtake Obama's lead in pledged delegates who will help select the Democratic presidential nominee at the August convention.
She said Obama's failure to knock her out of the race, despite outspending her in Pennsylvania more than 2-to-1, cast doubt on his ability to capture the big states Democrats need in November's election race against Republican John McCain.
"I've won the states we have to win—Ohio, now Pennsylvania," Clinton told CNN. "If you look at the broad base of support that I have accumulated it really is the foundation on which we build our victory come the fall."
Both candidates immediately looked to the next round of contests on May 6 in North Carolina, where Obama is favored, and Indiana, which is considered a toss-up. The two states have a combined 187 delegates at stake.
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said the Illinois senator was moving closer to winning enough delegates to clinch the nomination and was prepared to battle through the final nine contests ending on June 3.
"We don't believe the structure of the race is going to change fundamentally," Plouffe told reporters. "We think there is an enormous amount of data that shows we're the stronger candidate."
With more than 99 percent of the vote counted, Clinton led Obama in Pennsylvania 54.6 percent to 45.4 percent, the state's elections division said.
The win paid immediate financial dividends for Clinton, who said she took in $3.5 million since the polls closed on Tuesday. Clinton's campaign had more than $10 million in debts at the end of March.
"I would welcome a contribution because we are being outspent," Clinton told supporters in Indianapolis. "It's a tremendous challenge to get your message out when you're being outspent in that way."
Obama Holds Delegate Lead
An MSNBC count showed Clinton sliced Obama's national delegate lead by nine in Pennsylvania. Obama now has 1,726 delegates to Clinton's 1,593, short of the 2,024 needed to clinch the nomination.
Neither candidate can win without help from superdelegates—nearly 800 party insiders who are free to support either Obama or Clinton. Plouffe said he expected those superdelegates to move toward the winner and end the nomination fight sometime after June 3.
"You're going to see the superdelegates make a decision shortly after that," he said.
Clinton hopes her win ignites a strong run through the last nine contests, bringing her closer in delegates won and votes cast and convincing those superdelegates she is the Democrat who can beat McCain.
Both candidates picked up some superdelegate support on Wednesday, with U.S. Rep. John Tanner of Tennessee backing Clinton and Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry supporting Obama.
Democrats have become increasingly worried about the negative tone of the race, and exit polls showed Pennsylvania voters shared the concern.
About two-thirds of Pennsylvania voters thought Clinton unfairly attacked Obama, while about half thought Obama had unfairly attacked Clinton, the polls showed.
But Clinton won 58 percent of those who decided in the last week, when Obama was on the defensive in a debate over a series of campaign controversies and Clinton questioned his toughness in an ad featuring images of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Obama, who narrowed a 20-point Clinton lead in Pennsylvania opinion polls before falling short, and Clinton both campaigned in Indiana on Wednesday before heading back to Washington in the evening.
Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, won 9 of every 10 black voters and led among young and male voters. Clinton, who would be the first woman U.S. president, won blue-collar workers, elderly voters and more than half of women.
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