As Obama rival backs him, Clinton could be out for good

Edwards, who had based much of his candidacy on supporting the working-class voters that Clinton has been capturing and Obama hopes to woo, made a surprise appearance with the Democratic front-runner in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a critical general election battleground state.

Obama has shrugged off his largely symbolic loss in West Virginia to the former first lady, and turned his attention to a general election matchup against the likely Republican nominee, John McCain.

Edwards said Obama 8220;stands with me8221; in a fight to cut poverty in half within 10 years. In America, Obama said, 8220;you should never be homeless, you should never be hungry.8221;

As president, he vowed to 8220;lift up every American out of poverty.8221;

Clinton vowed to stay in the campaign despite struggling with debt. But she hinted that the protracted race would end shortly after the primaries concluded in early June and that the party would select a candidate before its national convention in August.

Obama widened his apparently insurmountable lead by picking up three more superdelegates, the party leaders who can vote at the nominating convention for whichever candidate they want. Clinton picked up one.

Including delegates won in West Virginia and new superdelegates, Obama has 1,887 delegates to Clinton8217;s 1,718, with 2,026 needed to win the nomination. Only five contests remain, so Clinton has no hope of winning enough delegates to overtake him, leaving her hopes with the superdelegates. About 250 of the nearly 800 superdelegates remain uncommitted or have not been chosen yet. But the trend of superdelegates has been overwhelmingly in Obama8217;s favour. He has picked up more than 30 in the past week.

Seeking to keep the focus on the economy 8212; the biggest issue with U.S. voters 8212; Obama met with workers at a Chrysler factory in Michigan, where he pledged to pump an extra 200 million a year into efforts to revitalize the manufacturing sector.

He stepped up his criticisms of McCain, saying the Arizona senator offered no solutions when he told Michigan voters in January that many of their lost jobs would not come back.

McCain 8220;was right8221; about that, Obama said in a midday speech. 8220;But where he8217;s wrong is in suggesting that there8217;s nothing we can do to replace those jobs or create new ones.8221;