Clinton's Still in It to Win It

Hillary Clinton insisted today she has no intention of quitting the Democratic race in spite of Barack Obama's commanding lead.

Senior Democrats are divided over whether the continuing and increasingly bitter Clinton-Obama contest is damaging the party's chances of defeating John McCain in the November election.

In an interview with Time, she said the Democrats had to consider whether she or Obama was best placed to beat McCain and the key to that equation was that she had won the big swing states such as Ohio.

"I've won states that Democrats need to win in the general election in order to win the White House and obviously the strategy on the other side is to try to shut this race down, but I don't think voters want that," she said.

She argued that the intensity of the Democratic race, far from providing the Republicans with ammunition for the November election, was creating a lot of excitement that was bringing people out to register for the Democrats.

Bill Clinton, out campaigning for her, reinforced the point: "My family is not big on quitting."

There are ten contests left between now and June. Although polls put Clinton well ahead in the biggest of them, Pennsylvania on April 22, Barack Obama is expected to win others, such as Oregon and, possibly, North Carolina.

The crucial change over the last week is that almost all hopes in the Clinton camp of a re-run of the Florida and Michigan primaries, which she would have expected to win, have been extinguished.

Reflecting the degree of in-fighting in the higher echelons of the party, 20 of Clinton's senior fund raisers today chastised Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, for suggesting that undecided super delegates should choose the Democrat who has received the most delegates once the primary season is over.

Pelosi has remained decidedly neutral in the presidential nomination battle in view of her role as the chairwoman of the Democratic nominating convention, to be held in Denver in August. But her views on the choice facing super delegates were widely viewed as a boost to Obama.

The Illinois senator currently leads Clinton by 167 delegates based on primary votes, a margin that the former first lady is highly unlikely to close without a stunning collapse by her rival.

The Clinton camp recognizes that her fate essentially rests with the undecided super delegates. With that in mind, her fund raisers criticized Pelosi - who stands third in line for the presidency - for expressing her opinion before the primary season ends in June.

"Several states and millions of Democratic voters have not yet had a chance to cast their votes," the Clinton backers wrote in a letter to Pelosi, first reported by the website Talking Points Memo.

"None of us should make declarative statements that diminish the importance of their voices and their votes."

The pro-Clinton group, which includes Esprit clothing founder Susie Tompkins Buell and Egyptian-American media magnate Haim Saban, finished with an implicit threat to withhold money from Democratic candidates if Pelosi did not disavow her remarks about super delegates.

"We have been strong supporters of the" Democratic congressional campaign efforts, the fund raisers wrote to the House speaker.

"We therefore urge you to clarify your position on super delegates and reflect in your comments a more open view to the optional independent actions of each of the delegates at the national convention in August."

Pelosi's remarks about super delegates came in an interview 10 days ago with ABC news, generating a flurry of private speculation on Capitol Hill as to her presidential preference.

"If the votes of the super delegates overturn what's happened in the elections, it would be harmful to the Democratic Party," she said.

After the Clinton fund raisers' letter became public, Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly reiterated the speaker's view that the Democratic party would suffer if super delegates "are perceived to overturn the will of the voters".

Pelosi believes super delegates will settle the Democratic race before the summer nominating convention, Daly added in a statement. "That choice will be based on many considerations, including respecting the decisions of millions of Americans who have voted in primaries and participated in caucuses."

The Obama campaign released its own response to the letter to Pelosi, calling the fund raisers' tactic "inappropriate".

In California's Democratic primary last month, Obama won Pelosi's liberal-leaning San Francisco district. But the speaker's inner circle of advisers in Congress has split in recent weeks between Clinton and Obama.

Pennsylvania congressman John Murtha, whom Pelosi backed as her No 2 last year, has endorsed Clinton. California congressman George Miller, considered her informal counselor, is backing Obama.

· This article was amended on Friday March 28 2008 to include a quote from a spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives.