7:45 p.m.

Posted May 13, 2008 –  Sen. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) will claim a easy victory tonight over Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in West Virginia’s presidential primary. 

Shortley after the polls closed at 7:30 p.m., television networks and the Associate Press projected Clinton’s win.

Clinton was favored to win the state because of her extensive campaigning there along with the make-up of voters; older, working class and White.  

The former first lady is expected to win by a large margin but numbers are not available at this time. 

By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer

Posted May 13, 2008 – Today’s Democratic primary in West Virginia will most likely be an anti-climactic victory for Sen. Hillary Clinton.  And her spin machine is churning out reasons why the New York senator should remain in the race until June 3, after the last primary in South Dakota.

On Monday Clinton campaigned in West Virginia and framed her projected win there as the one that will deliver her the White House in November.

“It was West Virginia that made it possible for John Kennedy to become president,” Clinton told a crowd of supporters in Clear Fork, in the southern part of the state.  “John Kennedy didn’t have the number of delegates he needed when he went to the convention in 1960; he had something equally as important – he had West Virginia behind him,” she said.

Surrogates for her campaign were delivering the same message; let the contest continue; don’t leave out Michigan and Florida; and look how “exciting” this contest has been for the Democratic Party.

Really?

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), a fellow New York lawmaker and staunch Clinton supporter, told CNN, “It’s abundantly clear Barack Obama is ahead,” but he maintained that she shouldn’t leave the race.  “It may be more difficult …, but as long as it’s possible,” she should keep going.

But throughout the day, Obama continued picking up super-delegate support, adding an additional two to the six who signed on over the weekend.  Now Clinton’s only remaining options are: to persuade the Democratic Party to change the rules; get pledged delegates to override elected delegates; and to get super-delegates to go back on their word. 

All of those options seem like bad ideas.  I could be wrong but, after all, anything is possible in politics. But is that what Clinton really wants to happen? 

“She’s in the game,” Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) said.  “We have a saying in Texas, ‘Hold your horses.’  Lee says the longer primary allows voters to cast their vote and be counted and shows “respect for the Democratic process.”

I agree and hope she’ll do just that, “respect the Democratic process” – even if it doesn’t deliver exactly what Hillary wants.