Washington - Voters in West Virginia headed to the polls Tuesday in the latest in a series of state-by-state contests pitting Senators Hillary Clinton against Barack Obama for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

Though Clinton trails in the number of delegates needed to nab the nomination at a party convention in August and her campaign has been declared all but dead by national political pundits, she is banking on a win in West Virginia to revive her fortunes and convince party leaders she is best positioned to reach a broad coalition of voters.

Only 28 delegates are up for grabs in West Virginia on Tuesday and not enough contests remain for her to catch Obama in pledged delegates awarded by voters. But she hopes a win there can show the so-called super delegates - party leaders who vote independently for the nominee and have been abandoning her for Obama - that she can still persevere.

The largely white, working-class voters in the Appalachian state mirror those who have supported her in past contests and are expected to give her a large win. The state was long a Democratic stronghold, but twice went for George W Bush on issues, such as abortion and gun- ownership, that appealed to social conservatives.

She has sought to portray herself there as a champion for blue- collar workers in the mountainous coal-mining state.

Despite calls for her to drop out of the race and allow front- runner Obama to unite the party ahead of November general elections, the former first lady has vowed to keep going until the series of state-by-state nominating contests are completed on June 3. (dpa)