A tenacious Hillary Rodham Clinton pushed ahead with her White House bid yesterday, revealing that she lent her cash-strapped campaign $6.4 million.

But Clinton met with fresh pressure to bow out of the race. Former Sen. George McGovern, the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee who had backed her candidacy, yesterday urged her to drop out and said he had decided to endorse Barack Obama.

Clinton's campaign seemed determined to buy time to make her case to party elders. Indeed, few Democrats expect her to drop out anytime soon.

"I'm staying in this race until there's a nominee and obviously I am going to work as hard as I can to become that nominee," Clinton said at a Shepherdstown, W.Va., news conference.

Clinton argued that she would be the strongest candidate to face Republican Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in November.

A day after losing to Barack Obama by 15 percentage points in North Carolina's primary and winning Indiana by less than 2 points, Clinton said she is drawing support from women, workingclass voters and other constituencies the Democratic Party needs to win the general election.

"I feel good about how I did with Indiana voters and swing voters in both North Carolina and Indiana," Clinton said in West Virginia, which holds its primary May 13. "It's a new day. It's a new state and a new election."

Obama, 46, an Illinois senator, has raised record amounts, forcing Clinton to dig into her personal bank account. Yesterday, aides said she loaned her campaign $6.4 million in the last month, bringing her personal investment this year to $11.4 million.

Campaign aides said they hoped news of her new loan would spark a new round of giving similar to a surge in February.

"She did this in order to remain competitive with Senator Obama on television," said Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson. "We had a very good fundraising month last month, but Senator Obama had a better fundraising month."

In urging Clinton to withdraw, McGovern said: "Hillary, of course, will make the decision as to if and when she ends her campaign. But I hope that she reaches that decision soon so that we can concentrate on a unified party capable of winning the White House next November."

Clinton, 60, a New York senator, brushed off McGovern's call. She declined to say whether she intended to carry the fight to the party's national convention in August.

"It's still early," Clinton said in Shepherdstown. She said her husband, former President Bill Clinton, didn't wrap up his 1992 nomination until June.

Obama's campaign yesterday arranged a conference call for reporters with Democratic elected officials who support Obama in a clear effort to nudge Clinton to step aside.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told reporters the message of Tuesday night's primary votes was that Obama's march "cannot be contained."

At the same time, the Obama supporters stopped short of directly calling for Clinton to step down. "It is her decision and only her decision," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

"We don't want to be disrespectful," McCaskill said.

Clinton said she isn't worried about losing the support of blacks who have given about 90 percent of their votes to Obama. They are "a very important base" for the party and likely would still vote for the Democratic candidate in November, Clinton said.