SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said Barack Obama's support among working, white Americans has diminished. Her fresh comments about race dogged her Thursday as she pressed on with her struggling candidacy.
Her voice raspy, her tone determined, the former first lady raced into a long West Virginia-to-the-West Coast campaign day, declaring she would move forward with her presidential effort and insisting anew that she, not Obama, would be the stronger Democratic candidate to face Republican John McCain in November.
In an interview with USA Today published Thursday, Clinton noted that the coalition of voters who have supported her in the Democratic nominating contest had eluded Obama and would pose problems for him in the general election.
"Senator Obama's support among working, hardworking Americans, white Americans, is weakening again ... there's a pattern here," Clinton was quoted as saying.
The Obama campaign did not respond to the remarks, which generated buzz in the liberal blogosphere.
Working-class whites overwhelmingly favour Clinton over Obama, and their view of the Illinois senator has grown increasingly negative since late last year, according to Associated Press-Yahoo News polling. In an AP-Yahoo survey a month ago, more than half - or 53 per cent - of whites who have not finished college had negative impressions of Obama, up a 12 points since November.
Data from exit polls also show that Obama's problem with working-class whites persists. About six in 10 of them voted for Clinton in primaries on Super Tuesday (Feb. 5) and earlier, and they have leaned toward her slightly more since then. On Tuesday, Clinton was supported by 65 per cent of whites who have not finished college in Indiana and 71 per cent of them in North Carolina.
With virtually no chance of catching Obama in the popular vote or among pledged delegates, Clinton and her strategists have pinned their hope on persuading superdelegates - elected officials and party activists - that she would be the stronger Democrat to run against McCain.
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