By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer  

PHILADELPHIA (Posted April 23, 2008) – The victory was just hours old when Sen. Hillary Clinton thanked supporters in the Park Hyatt Hotel ballroom while simultaneously asking them to send in the cash. 

“Tonight, more than ever, I need your help to continue this journey. This is your campaign and this is your victory tonight,” she told a cheering crowd.  

“We can only keep winning if we can keep competing with an opponent who outspends us so massively. So, I hope you’ll go to HillaryClinton.com and show your support tonight because the future of this campaign is in your hands,” she said.

Clinton has been trailing in delegates, the popular vote and fundraising. Clinton started the month of April with $9.3 million and debts of $10.3 million leaving her   more than $800,000 in debt, compared with Sen. Barack Obama, whose campaign owes less than $600,000 and still has more than $42 million on hand for the primary.

But money isn’t the only thing Clinton is hemorrhaging; the Black vote has all but deserted the candidate since the South Carolina primary.  Obama garnered 92 percent of the Black vote in Pennsylvania to Clinton’s 8 percent.

So has she given up on the Black vote?

“Absolutely not,” Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones told me following the projected announcement of Clinton’s victory.   “If she had given up on it, I would not be here today.”

Tubbs was one of several high-ranking Black surrogates on hand Tuesday night to celebrate the victory and deliver the message of why Clinton should be the nominee.
 
 Philadelphia’s Mayor Michael Nutter told me, “She’s best poised to win in big cities and small towns across the country.”

Mayor Douglas Palmer, of Trenton, N.J., agrees with Tubbs when it comes to Black voters.  “A lot of African Americans see a creditable candidate [in Obama], but at the end of the day we need to look at the states she’s won: Ohio, Texas – and African Americans will respond to her,” he insisted.

The win in Pennsylvania will not change the math for Clinton, but her campaign predicts she’ll nab more super-delegates because of it.  Based on the latest calculations by NBC News, when you add in the super-delegates who have already committed, 238 for Obama and 262 for Clinton, along with the pledged delegates, Obama still leads 1,881 to 1,853.

Now the campaign moves to Indiana and North Carolina where primaries will be held May 6.

By Pamela Gentry, Senior Poltical Producer

9:30 p.m.  EST

PHILADELPHIA (Posted April 22, 2008) - Sen. Hillary Clinton is the projected winner of the Pennsylvania primary tonight.  With 12 percent of the precients counted, Clinton has won with 53 percent to 47 percent. 

The ballroom went crazy when the win was announced.  Clinton is expected to speak to supporters 10 p.m EST.

By Pamela Gentry, Senior Poltical Producer
8:00 p.m.

PHILADELPHIA (Posted April 22, 2008) – The polls have closed and the results are starting to come in across the Keystone State.  Early exit polls indicate one voting block was clearly for freshman Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). 

I’m here at the Clinton headquarters in the Park Hyatt Hotel in downtown Philadelphia where she is expected to greet supporters later tonight in the ballroom.

According to CNN’s exit polls, 92 percent of African-American in the state voted for Obama, leaving only eight percent for his rival Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).  But it might not be enough to close the predicted shortfall for Obama with White voters.

Networks are shying away from making predictions early in this competitive race and opting for ”too close call”  in the early hours.  Another problem with projections will be two of the largest populated parts of the states, Pittsburg and Philadelphia have late voters and are historically slow reporting their results.

I’ll keep you updated as the night goes on. 

9:00 p.m.

The polls have been closed for an hour and with a little more than five percent of the precients reporting; Clinton leads with 57 percent to Obama’s 47 percent.   

During an importuned new conference Terry McAuliffe, Clinton told reporters, after tonight’s win, Clinton will  secure more super-delegates and remain in the race.

“When do I think it will end -  in June,”  he predicted.  “It’s been a tough primary, but we’ve got time [the Democratic Part] to bring folks together,” he said.