Clinton presses on, Obama looks ahead

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton met top donors on Wednesday to plead for money for her uphill White House bid, and front-runner Barack Obama courted blue-collar voters in Michigan with promises of help for the ailing car industry.

After a blowout West Virginia loss on Tuesday raised more questions about his trouble with white working-class voters, Obama visited the general-election battleground of Michigan to tout plans for a $150 billion clean technologies fund to create new jobs and promote fuel-efficient vehicles.

He looked past the race with Clinton to focus on a likely November match-up with Republican John McCain, saying the Arizona senator "is not offering new solutions or economic policies that are different from what George Bush has given us for eight long years."

Obama retains an almost unassailable advantage in delegates who will select the Democratic nominee at the party convention in August. He gained the support on Wednesday of two more superdelegates, who are free to back any candidate, and the abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Clinton returned to Washington for a round of media interviews and meetings with top donors after her 41-point victory over Obama in West Virginia barely made a dent in the Illinois senator's big lead in the Democratic race.

She promised to push on through the last five contests in the hope her showing will bolster her argument that she is the Democrat with the best chance to beat McCain in November.

"I'm going to keep fighting until every last American has a chance to be heard, and as we learned last night in West Virginia, I know we can win," the New York senator and former first lady said in an e-mail plea for donations.

Clinton's campaign is $20 million in debt but her campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, said she had the resources to compete with Obama and described her donors as "very excited, ready to go and ready to help."