By Greg Giroux, CQ Staff

The television networks are forecasting a substantial victory for New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in West Virginia; the only suspense is her winning margin of victory over Illinois Sen. Barack Obama , her front-running rival for the Democratic presidential nomination. Actual vote returns were hard to come by an hour after the polls closed at 7:30 p.m. eastern time. One county that did report early returns was Marion County, which includes Fairmont in the northern part of the state. Clinton led Obama by 64 percent to 30 percent, with 6 percent for former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards , who withdrew from the race in January. In Raleigh County, a southern county that takes in Beckley, early returns had Clinton ahead of Obama by 58 percent to 33 percent, with 8 percent for Edwards.

Various news organizations reported that exit polls showed that Clinton defeated Obama in all age and income groups. Exit polls also indicated that she will win among men as well as women, though by a smaller margin.