HILLARY Clinton has pulled off the victory she needed in Pennsylvania to keep her presidential aspirations alive.
But the former first lady's ten-point win over front-runner Barack Obama in the Keystone State left the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination largely unchanged.
Mrs Clinton – who had been widely tipped to win yesterday's primary
– took 55 per cent of the votes to Mr Obama's 45 per cent.
It was not the 15-point victory many pundits predicted would have dented Mr Obama's national lead, but it was enough to keep Mrs Clinton in contention, and stave off calls from senior Democrats for her to quit the race.
Political analysts will now wait to see whether any superdelegates – the 800 powerful party figures whose votes will be crucial in deciding the eventual nominee – declare their support for either candidate in the next few days.
Speaking in Philadelphia with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and daughter Chelsea at her side, Mrs Clinton told supporters: "You made your voices heard and because of you the tide is turning. Some people counted me out and said to drop out, but the American people don't quit and they deserve a president who doesn't quit either."
The race now moves to Indiana, which goes to the polls along with North Carolina on May 6.
Speaking in Evansville, Indiana, Mr Obama urged America to make the election about making the nation "a beacon of all that is good and of all that is possible for all of mankind".
He said his campaign's task was not simply to win the nomination, or the general election, but to "keep this country's promise alive in the 21st century".
Mrs Clinton caused controversy yesterday when she said in a TV interview that the US "would be able to totally obliterate" Iran in any attack. Mr Obama criticised her choice of words and said he was not interested in "sabre-rattling".
He trailed in opinion polls in Pennsylvania all along, but had made up ground in the last few weeks.
Mrs Clinton was seen as having an advantage because the state has a large number of older and working class voters – the kind who have voted for her in other states. If she had lost, it would have ended her campaign.
Exit polls showed Mrs Clinton won the support of working-class voters, women and white people, in an election where the economy was the dominant concern. Mr Obama was favoured by African-Americans, the affluent and voters who recently switched to the Democrats.
Despite Mrs Clinton's victory, Mr Obama remains the frontrunner. With only nine contests left, Mrs Clinton now has few opportunities to narrow his lead with delegates who will choose the party's nominee at the Democratic National Convention in August.
