Cinton stays in; Obama refocuses

COMBINED DISPATCHES

WASHINGTON — Now facing almost insurmountable odds, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York came under fresh pressure Wednesday to end her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination against Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, but she vowed to remain in the race “until there is a nominee.”

Obama hasn’t managed after months of political combat to force Clinton out of the presidential race, so he is about to try another approach: ignoring her. Confident that Obama has built a nearly impenetrable lead, his campaign aides said Wednesday he will begin shifting his focus toward the general election.

Obama still plans to campaign in states that remain on the primary calendar — he is to appear in Oregon over the weekend — but he may also start showing up in states that are considered important in the November contest: Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. All three have held Democratic primaries already.

Clinton’s narrow win in Indiana late Tuesday provided none of the boost that her campaign advisers had anticipated. Her small margin, coupled with Obama’s runaway victory in the North Carolina primary, shifted the dynamics of the Democratic race dramatically and sharply against her overnight.

In a conference call with reporters, campaign officials offered as upbeat an assessment of the contest as they could muster. Asked whether Clinton had discussed dropping out, senior adviser Howard Wolfson flatly told reporters: “No.”

In her conversations with advisers Wednesday, they said, Clinton talked about looking ahead to the next campaign, in West Virginia, where she should hold an advantage Tuesday.

“Her feeling is she’s made a commitment to let the people in the remaining states have their chance to express their voice, and she’ll move forward with that part of the campaign in a way that will both make the case for her but also be constructive for the Democratic Party,” said Geoff Garin, a top strategist in the campaign.

Clinton advisers hope to ride out the rest of the week, knowing there will be talk about whether she will quit the race. They think that a big victory in West Virginia would give her a new platform to make a case for herself.

But Tuesday’s results brought more than cable news chatter about her situation. Former senator George McGovern of South Dakota, the party’s 1972 nominee, announced that he was shifting his support from Clinton to Obama.

, and said it is time for Democrats to unite to defeat Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee, in November.

Several undecided Democrats indicated that their Obama endorsements were just a matter of time. Rep. Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania, whose district went overwhelmingly for Clinton, said he would nonetheless back Obama if he maintains leads in the major indicators: pledged delegates, states won and popular votes.