The Globe

Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Kris Radder Hillary Clinton addresses a crowd of 6,000 supporters in Market Square on Monday, April 21. This was her last visit to the city before Tuesday's primary election.

Media Credit: Kris Radder Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Bob Casey spoke to a crowd at Petersen Events Center in Oakland Monday night encouraging supporters to cast their vote in the primary.

Media Credit: Kris Radder Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl headed to the polls Tuesday morning to vote for endorsed candidate Hillary Clinton.

Media Credit: Kris Radder Bill Clinton cheers on his wife Hillary last Monday during a rally in Market Square. Bill spoke before Hillary while supporters awaited Hillary's arrival.

Hillary Clinton engaged a crowd of 6,000 last Monday during a Market Square rally asking them who they want to hire for president, a job she called the toughest in America.

Clinton clinched the Pennsylvania Primary with 55 percent of the democratic votes on Tuesday, keeping her alive in the delegate race. Clinton will pick up a majority of the state's 158 delegates.

"The best way to know what someone will do is to look and see what they have done," she said.

Clinton supporters welcomed the win at a rally in Philadelphia Tuesday night chanting, "Yes she can" in response to her victory.

"I thought she was going to win Pennsylvania and the fact that she took more than a couple percent is good," Joe Adams, a sophomore sport, arts and entertainment management major, said. "I think this thing is going to go all the way to the convention. There is nothing else you can do at this point. It's going to be interesting to see what happens."

Adams also said that he believes Clinton has a strong chance of winning at the convention because she has more experience and a stronger policy.

Sen. Barack Obama closed a projected 20 percent lead to a ten percent margin victory.

Some university students were discouraged by Clinton's Pennsylvania victory and said they didn't think she was the best qualified candidate.

"We need someone who can relate to our own generation. Someone who has new ideas," said Philip Croyle, a 22-year-old sophomore cinema and digital arts major who voted for Obama.

Croyle said he switched his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat because he wants to see change in the government.

Jen Weiland, a 21-year-old junior sport, arts and entertainment management major also voted for Obama in the Pennsylvania primary.

"I thought [Obama] would be good for America in bringing change- and his name is not Clinton or Bush," she said.

Clinton admitted that the next president is going to have a difficult time taking on big issues like the war in Iraq and failing economy but told the crowd that she had the drive for change and experience for the challenges ahead.

"One thing with Hillary Clinton is you know what you are going to get and she backs it up with facts," Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said during Monday's Market Square rally.

Clinton addressed the needs of the Pittsburgh region in her last city stop Monday. She said her six weeks of campaigning in Pennsylvania have shown her the problems across the state, which are also the same obstacles she has seen across America.

"I'm running to make sure our future is better than our past," she said.

Both Clinton and Obama criss-crossed Pennsylvania Monday in hopes of reaching as many voters as possible.

With a crowd of over 15,000, Obama spoke to energetic supporters late Monday at the Peterson Events Center, telling voters he is ready to strip the fear that governs political American culture.

"And when we declare independence from the same old same old then there is nothing we can't solve," he said at the event.

Obama received 92 percent of African-American votes in Pennsylvania, making it the largest margin in the primary vote thus far.

Clinton pulled support from older voters with 61 percent of those over 65 years old, according to polls.

Arizona Sen. John McCain received 73 percent of GOP votes in the primary followed by a distant Ron Paul with 16 percent of votes.

The next primary will be held on May 6 in Indiana and North Carolina.

Neither Clinton nor Obama are expected to reach the 2,025 delegates required to receive the nomination by the end of the primary season, in which case super delegates, party leaders and officials would decide the nomination.

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