Obama in West Virginia with eye on McCain

CHARLESTON, West Virginia (Reuters) - Democratic front-runner Barack Obama made a quick stop in West Virginia on Monday ahead of an expected bad loss there to White House rival Hillary Clinton, but he was already looking past the contest to November's fight with Republican John McCain.

During a six-hour West Virginia trip, Obama criticized McCain's refusal to back a Democratic bill expanding education benefits for military veterans and announced he would visit the November swing states of Missouri, Florida and Michigan in the next week as he prepares for the general election.

"There is an election here tomorrow. I am extraordinarily honored that some of you will support me," Obama told a rally in Charleston. "I understand that many more here in West Virginia will probably support Senator Clinton."

Obama wore an American flag lapel pin in Charleston as he discussed ways to strengthen the military. The Illinois senator has been criticized at times for not wearing the pin, seen by some politicians as a symbol of patriotism.

Clinton, a New York senator who has vowed to keep fighting despite dwindling prospects and a mounting campaign debt, also campaigned in West Virginia and showed no signs she was ready to call it quits.

"I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't believe that I could be the best president for West Virginia and America, and that I was the stronger candidate to take on John McCain in the fall," Clinton told a rally in Logan, West Virginia.

Obama has a big lead on Clinton in their duel for the Democratic presidential nomination but appears headed to a bad defeat in West Virginia, a state with a heavy concentration of white working-class voters who have backed Clinton.

Opinion polls in the state show Clinton ahead by more than 20 points. Voting ends in West Virginia on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. EDT with results expected shortly afterward.

A big win for Clinton will not make it any easier for her to catch Obama, who has an almost insurmountable advantage in delegates who will select the nominee at the party convention in August.

An MSNBC count gives Obama 1,866 delegates to Clinton's 1,703, leaving him about 160 short of the 2,025 needed to clinch the nomination. But neither can win without help from superdelegates -- nearly 800 party officials who are free to back any candidate.

Obama has been gaining ground among them for weeks, and won the backing on Monday of four more superdelegates. Less than 250 superdelegates now remain uncommitted.

RESISTING CALLS TO QUIT

Clinton has resisted calls to give up the fight and allow Obama to focus on the November race with McCain, even though her campaign is at least $20 million in debt.

Obama's stops in Florida and Michigan will be his first campaign visits there since signing a pledge last year not to make public appearances in those states because they violated national party rules by holding early contests.

The contests, both won by Clinton, are not recognized by the national party because of the dispute. Clinton has pushed for a way to seat delegates from the states, and the party's rules committee will meet on May 31 to discuss the issue.

Obama has said he also wants to find a fair way to seat delegates from the two states, and officials have been discussing a possible resolution to the stalemate.

Obama was not on the ballot in Michigan and no candidates campaigned in either state because of the dispute.

The two states are too important in November for Obama to stay away and leave the field to McCain, campaign spokesman Bill Burton said.

"We're not going to let John McCain wander around in those states unchallenged anymore," Burton said. "We're going to compete vigorously in Florida and Michigan and other states that are important in the fall."

Obama still must compete in five Democratic contests after West Virginia on Tuesday. The contests remaining are Oregon and Kentucky on May 20, Puerto Rico on June 1 and Montana and South Dakota on June 3.

The final six contests have a total of just 217 delegates at stake. Obama campaign officials expect they will reach a majority of pledged delegates won in the Democratic race after the May 20 contests.

McCain said in Oregon that he would take the lead in combating global climate change, a sharp break from the policies of U.S. President George W. Bush.

The Arizona senator, hunting for support from independents who will be crucial to the outcome in November, said he would seek international accords to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and offer an incentive system to make businesses in the United States cleaner.

"The facts of global warming demand our urgent attention, especially in Washington," McCain said at the Vestas Wind Technology plant. "Good stewardship, prudence, and simple common sense demand that we act to meet the challenge, and act quickly."

(Additional reporting by Chris Baltimore and Tim Gaynor; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by David Wiessler and Jackie Frank)

(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at http:/blogs.reuters.com/trail08/ )