Clinton says she isn't dropping out

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Her voice raspy, her tone determined, Hillary Rodham Clinton urged her supporters Thursday to ignore the political pundits who have declared her toast.

The former first lady raced into a long West Virginia-to-the-West Coast campaign day, declaring she would move forward with her presidential effort and insisting anew that she, not Barack Obama, would be the stronger Democratic candidate to face Republican John McCain in November.

But her fresh comments about race dogged her as she pressed forward with her struggling candidacy.

In an interview with USA Today published Thursday, Clinton said, "I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on." She cited an Associated Press article "that found how Senator Obama's support among working, hardworking Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."

"There's a pattern emerging here," she said.

Obama's campaign did not respond to the comments, which generated buzz in the liberal blogosphere.

Working-class whites overwhelmingly favor Clinton over Obama, and their view of the Illinois senator has grown increasingly negative since late last year, according to Associated Press-Yahoo News polling.