CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Polls are open in West Virginia, and election officials said things are off to a smooth start.

Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to beat rival Barack Obama by double digits, and score another victory in next week's Kentucky primary.

But Obama has spent little time campaigning in either state, focusing more on his anticipated run against likely Republican nominee John McCain.

Clinton appeared to be pinning her hopes on strong showings in the next two states to press her case that Obama is weak among key Democratic constituents.

A Rasmussen poll taken in West Virginia on May 5 had Clinton leading 56 to 27 percent over Obama, with 17 percent undecided. The state, which holds its primary on Tuesday, has 39 delegates up for grabs and should be favorable ground for Clinton because of her success appealing to blue-collar voters who are prevalent in the state.

Clinton has been pointing out that no Democrat has won the White House since 1916 without winning in West Virginia.

Campaigning in Fairmont, the former first lady urged residents to get to the polls, saying, "This may be the most important vote you've ever cast."

Obama, who holds a near-insurmountable lead in the delegate race, may be only a few weeks from clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, no matter what happens in West Virginia or Kentucky.

Superdelegates have been moving to Obama's side -- 26 of them in the week since he routed Clinton in North Carolina and narrowly lost Indiana. At that pace, he will reach the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination -- 2,025 -- in the next three weeks, when delegates from the remaining primaries are included.

Obama has 1,871.5 delegates, including endorsements from party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Clinton has 1,697, according to the latest tally by The Associated Press. That leaves Obama just 153.5 delegates short of the number needed to win the nomination at the party's national convention this August in Denver.

There are 217 total delegates at stake in the six remaining primaries, in West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota. Even if Clinton wins most of those delegates, Obama could reach the magic number by the time South Dakota and Montana vote on June 3.

Obama will be in Missouri Tuesday night. It's considered a bellwether of the fall campaign.