Clinton Promises Moms She Won't Quit

GRAFTON, W.Va., May 11, 2008— -- It was here in a West Virginia home that Anna Jarvis came up with the concept for Mother's Day a century ago, and it was here too that Sen. Hillary Clinton came today to pound home the message that what the country needs is a mother in the White House.

Clinton, D-N.Y., is favored to outpoll Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., among West Virginia's rural working class Democrats here in coal country in the primary Tuesday.

Since Obama's landslide win in North Carolina and his close second-place finish in Indiana tilted the dynamic of the Democratic primary notably further in his favor, Clinton appears to have acquiesced to pleas from party officials to refrain from attacking Obama directly. But she betrays few other signs that she's stepping down soon.

In the words of a supporter, she said, "It's not over until the lady in the pantsuit says it is."

But party elders give her long odds, and one former rival has declined to give her his coveted endorsement.

"I think it is likely, certainly, at this point, that Sen. Obama will be the nominee," former Sen. John Edwards said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Even Clinton's famously combative husband made it clear he would support Obama, if it comes to that.

"However these last states come out, my candidates, our family and our supporters will be here to get a victory in November for the democrats," former President Clinton said Saturday. "It is too important. We've got to turn this country around. And we will do it."

Obama and McCain, meanwhile, are now looking beyond the Democratic primary to the November election. This weekend Obama accepted McCain's proposal to meet for a series of unmoderated town hall meetings around the country.

"I think that's a great idea," Obama told Fox News. "Should I be the nominee if I have the opportunity to debate substantive issues before the voters with John McCain, that's something I'm going to welcome."

Hillary Clinton's campaign says one reason she keeps forging ahead is supporters like the Mother's Day crowd that greeted her in Grafton -- rural and mostly women -- who have fueled her campaign.