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Hillary Clinton now faces a growing perception of inevitable loss -- not win. (AP Photo)

Hillary Clinton is vowing to continue her presidential bid despite mounting pressure to quit following a shaky performance in Indiana and a blow-out loss to Democratic rival Barack Obama in North Carolina.

On Wednesday, Clinton appeared at Shepherdstown University in Shepherdstown, W.V. to say that she continues to be in the fight. Her campaign issued a donor plea from Clinton that said with 28 days left, “I’m going to keep fighting for what I believe in until every voter has had his or her say.”

But the list of people pushing her toward the exit now is growing, and added to it Wednesday was one of her earliest backers, 1972 presidential candidate George McGovern, who said he now is supporting Obama.

“I don’t see how Senator Clinton could prevail” to win the nomination, the 85-year-old former senator told FOX News.

McGovern said Clinton’s exit is important to ensure the upper hand in November.

“I think it’s important for Democrats to be united,” McGovern said.

McGovern joins last week’s high-profile defection of former Democratic Party chairman Joe Andrew and February’s stinging departure of Georgia Rep. John Lewis.

Even before McGovern’s announcement, Clinton cut loose a planned day of rest Wednesday to start up the campaign machine for one final push. Six nomination contests remain over the next four weeks, 217 pledged delegates are still up for grabs and 269 superdelegates are undecided.

The campaign reacted coolly to the news.

“We appreciate his friendship, but we think voters in the upcoming states should have their votes counted,” said Clinton spokesman Jay Carson.

Clinton now aims to keep hope alive among a jittery group of superdelegates who have stuck with her so far. To do so she’ll need to pull together a string of fourth-quarter miracles while dangling the prospect of bringing back into the fold votes from Florida and Michigan — which were written off in a pre-primary party dispute.

That hope is diminishing quickly after the latest balloting. Clinton eked out a 1.7 percent win over Obama in Indiana, lower than pre-election polls predicted, taking the Hoosier State 50.8-49.1. But in the Tar Heel State, Obama racked up a 15 percentage point win, winning it 57-42.

Seeing the end in sight, Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod appeared to be shifting the campaign toward a general election fight, saying presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain has “run free for some time now” because of Democratic preoccupation with the ongoing primary fight.

“I don’t think we’re going to spend time solely in primary states,” he said. “We have multiple tasks here.”

Clinton has a chance at winning a few of the remaining states, but the likelihood of her taking the delegates she needs to win is nearly insurmountable. She is favored to win next week in West Virginia, as well as the May 20 contest in Kentucky, and the June 1 contest in Puerto Rico. But her chances are slim in Oregon on May 20, and in the last two primaries in Montana and South Dakota on June 3.

Still, she argues the count is close. Clinton touched on this theme Tuesday night, citing the “he wins one, she wins one” nature of the campaign.

But to reach the number of 2,025 total delegates needed to clinch the nomination, the New York senator would need to take 349 of the 486 total pledged delegates and superdelegates still on the table or undecided, which includes 16 pledged delegates that have yet to be cast in North Carolina.

“Absent a comfortable win in Indiana, it’s hard to see how the Clinton campaign can go forward from here,” FOX News contributor Karl Rove said, noting the results from Tuesday’s contests seemed to signal the end of the primary race and the beginning of the general election campaign.

“It’s gonna be much harder for her tomorrow,” Democratic strategist Bob Beckel said late Tuesday.

The Clinton campaign showed no signs of letting up even as it fought rumors that it was holding a “crisis” meeting with superdelegates on Wednesday to keep them from jumping to Obama.

The campaign, which canceled Clinton’s Wednesday morning show appearances, confirmed it will meet superdelegates but said it’s not anything unusual. Aides say the outcome of Tuesday’s primaries changes nothing and the race moves on to the remaining six contests.

West Virginia will vote next Tuesday. In the middle of the night, the campaign announced Clinton would travel to the Mountain State first thing on Wednesday morning for campaign events.

“It’s so close,” Clinton said during her rally in Indianapolis. “These next primaries are another test. I’m going to work my heart out in West Virginia and Kentucky this month, and I intend to win them in November in the general election.”

She declared she’s going “full speed” to the White House and touted her win in Indiana.

For his part, Obama was enjoying time off the trail on Wednesday, relaxing at home in Chicago before returning to Washington, D.C., late in the day. Later in the week, he was to travel to Oregon, where he appears to hold the advantage, and then to West Virginia and Kentucky, where Clinton now leads.

Both candidates will inevitably turn their attention to superdelegates in the final days or weeks of the campaign. Clinton was still leading the superdelegate count in the middle of the night, 271-256, but combined with pledged delegates, she was behind overall 1,840-1,688.

For the first time in the race, more undeclared superdelegates remained than pledged delegates left on the primary calendar.

With odds against Clinton, her campaign is drafting a battle plan to lobby superdelegates, sources inside the campaign told FOX News. Those plans include using public rallies, direct mail and even TV spots to generate broader public support for undecided superdelegates to side with Clinton.

She got a small boost Wednesday from Rep. Brad Ellsworth of Indiana, who announced that “if it comes down to the convention, I will support the candidate 8th District voters chose unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise.”

Undecided superdelegate David Parker, an attorney in North Carolina, also said he isn’t making a commitment yet.

“I’m going to wait until at least June 4. The South is getting together, southern (Democratic National Committee) members are getting together in Mobile, Ala., on June 24 and we’ll have a conversation at that time. I may wait until then just to see what’s happening in the rest of the South,” he said.

Clinton also called on the party “to count all the votes” in direct reference to Michigan and Florida, which the Democratic National Committee penalized by stripping them of their delegations for holding their contests before Super Tuesday, Feb. 5. Clinton said Tuesday the nominee shouldn’t be chosen “by 48 states.”

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said the Illinois senator’s campaign is ready to make its case to superdelegates too.

“We’re gonna add popular votes tonight, we’re gonna add pledged delegates tonight and from now forward there are more superdelegates at stake than delegates. You’ll see a lot of emphasis put on calling and courting them,” he told FOX News.

Democratic Pollster Doug Schoen said he doesn’t think Clinton’s campaign will be drastically affected by Tuesday’s results.

“She won a victory, albeit a narrow victory,” he said. “The nomination process hasn’t played itself out. It’s supposed to go through June 3 for a reason.”

But many other pundits are questioning whether she can go on. Despite having the financial backing she needs to finish up the remaining contests, helped by a personal loan of $6.4 million in the last month, Clinton is fighting a perception problem.

“This was a big loss for her tonight, and people are a little rattled who support her,” Democratic strategist Kirsten Powers said early Wednesday morning. “I don’t think she’s going to drop out, but at the same time I think they have to reassess things.”

Obama is “clearly the presumptive presidential nominee,” said Obama backer Anna Burger, the secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union.

“Senator Obama’s commanding win in North Carolina and close showing in Indiana means he is clearly the Democratic nominee for president,” Burger said. “We’ve had a long process and the outcome is now clear.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 11:39 am and is filed under Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Indiana, North Dakota, Top Story. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.