Hillary Rodham Clinton won a largely symbolic victory over Barack Obama in the West Virginia primary May 13, but it did little to buoy her faltering candidacy in the face of a rival who has all but secured the Democratic presidential nomination.

Obama conceded defeat in advance in the state, looking ahead to the fall campaign against Republican John McCain.

Obama, seeking to make history by becoming the first black U.S. president, may be a few weeks from clinching the Democratic nomination regardless of his loss in West Virginia or the outcome in Kentucky, another Clinton stronghold that votes May 20.