Hillary Clinton scored a crushing win over Barack Obama in West Virginia's primary but it did little to dislodge his stranglehold on the Democratic White House race.

Clinton vowed to fight on after routing Obama by a margin of almost three to one in a contest that highlighted his struggle to win white, working class voters who will play a key role in November's general election.

"You will never quit, and I won't either," Clinton told cheering supporters at her victory rally late Tuesday in the poor, mountainous state.

"There are some who have wanted to cut this race short," the New York senator and former first lady said.

"I am more determined than ever to carry on with this campaign until everyone has had their chance to make their voices heard," she said, in an apparent hint that she will fight on through five remaining primaries.

Clinton beat Obama by a bruising 67 to 26 percent in West Virginia, with 100 percent of the vote counted. Seven percent voted for former senator John Edwards, who dropped out of the presidential race in late January.

Overall, Obama, vying to become the first African-American in the White House, leads Clinton by every metric -- pledged delegates, superdelegates, popular vote tallies and number of nominating contests won.

Bringing only 28 of the 2,025 delegates needed for the nomination, the West Virginia victory was not enough to change the math that seems destined to propel Obama to the Democratic presidential nomination.

Clinton was conciliatory towards her rival Tuesday, saying, "I deeply admire Senator Obama," and adding that she would support the nominee of her party in November.

But she also bluntly stated her belief that she was the best bet to lead the Democrats against Republican John McCain in the November presidential election.

"I am in this race because I believe I am the strongest candidate to lead our party in November of 2008, and the strongest president to lead our nation starting in January of 2009."

Obama had already conceded the primary and was in the general-election battleground of Missouri as results came in, gearing up for a contest with McCain.

"While the Bush-Cheney ticket won't be up for reelection, the Bush-Cheney policies will, because John McCain is running for four more years of the same approach that has failed the American people," Obama said in Cape Girardeau, referring to President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Clinton meanwhile fired off a fundraising appeal within an hour of polls closing, underscoring her desperate need for cash to carry on.

Exit polls cited by MSNBC showed that Clinton won white voters by 68 percent to 28 for Obama, and won 72 percent of those earning less than 50,000 dollars, compared to her foe's 24 percent.

Worryingly for Obama, Fox News exit data said 51 percent of voters believed that he shared the views of his controversial former pastor Jeremiah Wright, who sparked a crisis for his campaign with racially tinged sermons.

Still, Clinton's odds grew longer as Obama drew more superdelegates -- party leaders whose votes will be crucial in settling the nomination -- to his side.

Roy Romer, a former governor of Colorado and a national co-chairman of president Bill Clinton's re-election campaign in 1996, declared his support for Obama Tuesday.

"Senator Clinton has been a very strong and formidable candidate," Romer said. "But there is a time that we need to end it and direct ourselves to the general election. I think that time is now."

Obama now has the support of 284 superdelegates, against 272 for Clinton, according to the latest tally by the independent website RealClearPolitics.

In total, he has 1,882 delegates to her 1,714, and is considerably closer to the winning line of 2,025.