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Barack Obama switched focus to presidential battle with John McCain

Barack Obama is looking ahead to two states crucial to Democratic hopes for recapturing the White House in November as he shrugs off what is expected to be an overwhelming and inconsequential win on Tuesday for Hillary Clinton in West Virginia's primary.

With Clinton unable to erode his commanding lead in the delegate count, Obama is focusing on a general election showdown against John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.

His campaign announced that he would visit Michigan and Florida within the next two weeks, reflecting an effort to win over Democratic voters in two key battleground states that were stripped of their delegates for violating party rules by holding their primaries earlier than scheduled.

Both candidates had vowed not to campaign in either state ahead of the primaries, both won by Clinton - the only candidate on the Michigan ballot. Since then, the national party has struggled with how to allow voters there to be represented at the national convention in August.

Obama made only a brief push on Monday in West Virginia - one of six remaining Democratic contests. Clinton is expected to easily capture the state, where Obama lacks the solid black vote that helped him win elsewhere.

During a stop in Charleston, West Virginia, Obama addressed criticism he expects this fall, emphasising his patriotism and support for a strong and humane military.

Reading a speech to several thousand people at the Charleston Civic Center, the Illinois senator said patriotism means more than saluting flags and holding parades. He criticised McCain for opposing a Democratic bill to expand education benefits for veterans, saying in a reference to Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans that "the true test of our patriotism is whether we will serve our returning heroes as well as they have served us."

A Suffolk University poll had Clinton leading 60% to Obama's 24% among Democrats in the state. The survey has a margin or error of plus or minus four percentage points.

Obama, vying to become the US's first black president, has 1,869.5 delegates to Clinton's 1,697, according to the latest AP tally; 2,025 are needed to secure the Democratic nomination.

That tally reflects Obama's lead both among delegates chosen in primaries and caucuses, and among superdelegates, party officials who are free to vote as they choose.