by KYW's Larry Kane

In Campaign '08, Hillary Clinton is heavily favored in the West Virginia primary, but there is still intrigue about what happens next.

Insiders say there is no one in her inner circle that will tell her to walk away yet, even though Barack Obama may be a week away from clinching the Democratic nomination.

They say she expects to win big in West Virginia, then in Kentucky next week, plus Puerto Rico on June 1st.

Obama should win in Oregon, South Dakota, and Montana. What happens if he goes over the top before the end of the primaries? Then, Sen. Clinton will have to make the decision of a political lifetime. In the meantime, her surrogates are laying low around the country.

As for Obama, he's making no hardball comments about Clinton -- and she's doing the same in return.

It is a delicate period, where class and composure will decide how and when this most amazing of all primary fights will come to a close.

KYW's Tony Romeo, meanwhile, reports that Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, anticipating another big win for his candidate Hillary Clinton in the West Virginia Democratic primary, scoffs at the notion that she should drop out of the race in the name of party unity.

(Rendell): “This whole process perplexes me.”

Governor Rendell says it’s a tight race in terms of the popular vote and the number of pledged delegates, and says that Clinton has won some big states in recent months:

“And according to all the polls she is going to win West Virginia by 15 to 20 points. So let me get this straight: you want the candidate who’s been winning to drop out?”

Rendell says if the superdelegates “take a deep breath and stand back," they’d conclude that Clinton is by far the Democrats’ strongest candidate in the fall.

The governor also noted there’s been, in his words, a recent “boomlet” among pundits promoting him as a running mate for Barack Obama. But Rendell says he is not wavering in his position that he intends to serve out the remainder of his term as governor.

COMPLETE KYW COVERAGE OF "DECISION 2008"