Clinton Defeats Obama In Pennsylvania Primary

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Hillary Rodham Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary Tuesday night, defeating Barack Obama and staving off elimination in a riveting race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The former first lady was winning 53 percent of the vote to 47 percent for her rival with 9 percent of the vote counted, and she hoped for significant inroads into Obama’s overall lead in the competition for delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

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

Clinton won despite being outspent heavily by her rival in a six-week campaign that allowed time for intense courtship of the voters.

She showed her blue collar bona fides one night by knocking down a shot of whiskey, then taking a mug of beer as a chaser. Obama went bowling in his attempt to win over working-class voters.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)