CNN: Clinton camp: We're within 'striking distance' of popular vote
(CNN) -- On the eve of a primary that Hillary Clinton is expected to win by big margins, her campaign is renewing the argument that if she leads in the popular vote, she should be the Democratic nominee. "Hillary is within striking distance of winning the popular vote nationwide -- a key part of our plan to win the nomination," campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe said in a letter to supporters Sunday. "That means we need every last vote we can get in West Virginia on Tuesday and in the races to follow."
Her campaign is trying to turn out the vote in the remaining six contests, hoping the popular vote argument will persuade superdelegates to endorse her instead of Sen. Barack Obama....
Clinton's campaign has argued that she would be more electable in a general election because she has done well in swing states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, as well as Florida and Michigan, which were stripped of their delegates. West Virginia is also a key swing state. Bill Clinton won in 1992 and 1996, and George Bush carried it in 2000 and 2004.
West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, an uncommitted superdelegate, said the delegate numbers are in Obama's favor, but the popular vote is important to the people of his state. "I think we see what happened in 2004, when Al Gore won the popular vote, and where the country has gone and the feelings toward government since then. I put a lot of stock in that," he said on CNN's "American Morning." "If the people believe that it was over, they wouldn't be voting maybe in the way they might vote tomorrow or in the next few campaigns," he said.
Clinton is expected to trounce Obama in West Virginia, but Manchin said he thinks Obama would also be able to carry the state in the general election. The senator from New York has a 43-percentage-point advantage over Obama, 66 percent to 23 percent, according to a survey from the American Research Group released Friday. The poll was conducted after last Tuesday's contests and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points....
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/12/campaign.wrap/index.html
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