Winning Pennsylvania key for Clinton’s bid

Though opinion polls have given 61-year-old Clinton a lead over Obama in Tuesday’s contest, analysts say the former first lady must win the primary if she is to have any chance of becoming the first woman US President.

Interestingly, a win for Clinton would still not put her ahead of Obama, the 47-year-old senator from Arkansas, US media reports quoted poll pundits as saying.

With just 10 pre-convention contests remaining after Pennsylvania, it appeared mathematically impossible for either candidate to gather the 2,025 delegates needed for nomination going into the party convention in Denver in August.

Pennsylvania has 158 delegates to the August Democratic national convention, but the party’s rules for apportioning those delegates mean that even a big victory will likely do little to close Obama’s overall lead, analysts said.

The latest count of pledged delegates to the party’s national convention in August, gives Obama the support of 1,644 delegates and Clinton 1,502, ABC News reported.

It is the first primary to take place since the poll in Mississippi on March 11, which was won by Obama. In the last six weeks, the rivalry between Hillary and Obama, hoping to become the first Black-American US President, has increased despite the fact that no states have been voting.