Clinton aide sets June end to Democrats' race
CHARLESTON, West Virginia (Reuters) - Democrat Hillary Clinton could drop her fading U.S. presidential bid if she still trails Barack Obama in the nominating contests in early June, her campaign chairman said on Thursday.
Chairman Terry McAuliffe said Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, would unite behind front-runner Barack Obama if he won the right to face Republican John McCain in November's presidential election.
He said there was little reason to halt her longshot effort to catch Obama until the voting in their nominating fight ends on June 3. Six states hold contests until then.
"She can win the states we need to win in the general election. Why should Hillary Clinton -- until there is a nominee with the number of necessary delegates -- why should she get out?" Terry McAuliffe asked on NBC's "Today" show.
"It'll be over early June," McAuliffe said. "We've all said we'll be together at the end. If Hillary doesn't win, Hillary, President Clinton, myself, we'll be over there helping Senator Obama."
With just 217 delegates at stake in the final six contests, Clinton has no realistic chance of overtaking Obama's lead in the number of pledged delegates who will help pick the nominee at the August Democratic convention or in popular votes won in state-by-state nominating contests that began in January.
Obama's big win in North Carolina and narrow loss in Indiana this week effectively dashed her hopes and increased pressure on her to step aside so Obama can prepare for the fight with McCain.
Democratic Party chief Howard Dean also expects the race to be over next month, telling Fox News on Sunday: "The unpledged delegates need to say who they're for by the end of June so we'll know who our nominee is by the end of June."
Clinton plowed ahead on Thursday, traveling to the next battleground of West Virginia and saying she had been counted out before. The calls to drop out, which she heard before she won Pennsylvania last month, were "deja vu all over again."
"There are people who said we need to end this before we get to West Virginia. Well, I don't think so," Clinton said at a rally in Charleston, West Virginia, which hosts the next contest on Tuesday.
An MSNBC count showed Obama had 1,850 delegates to Clinton's 1,700 -- leaving him about 175 short of the 2,025 needed to clinch the nomination.
SUPERDELEGATES
Neither candidate can win without help from superdelegates -- nearly 800 party insiders and officials who are free to back any candidate. More than 250 remain uncommitted, and if the majority begin to move toward Obama, an Illinois senator, they could quickly settle the race.
Obama visited Capitol Hill to check in with some uncommitted superdelegates, and picked up the backing of one - Rep. Brad Miller of North Carolina.
He was mobbed by lawmakers in the back of the House of Representatives chamber. Some asked for his autograph. On leaving, Obama ran into a large group of tourists, mostly children, and posed for photos.
In an interview with CNN, Obama criticized McCain's recent comment that the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas backed Obama.
"This is offensive and I think it's disappointing, because John McCain always says, well, I'm not going to run that kind of politics and then engages in that kind of smear," Obama said.
Obama told CNN Clinton would be "on anyone's short list" as a vice presidential candidate but it was premature to discuss the possibility of a joint ticket because she was still running against him.
Calls for Clinton to end the race have come mostly from the media and television pundits. Aside from 1972 Democratic nominee George McGovern, who switched his allegiance to Obama on Wednesday, few superdelegates or Clinton backers have questioned her continued presence in the race.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat and Clinton supporter who had expressed doubts about whether her continued candidacy would hurt the party, said she spoke with her early on Thursday.
"I'm sticking with her," she said. "I agree that she should take this as long as she feels she has a chance to win it. She said she will do nothing to harm the party."
Clinton still hopes to find a way to seat delegates from Michigan and Florida, where she won contests in January that are not recognized by the national party because of a dispute over when they were held.
She sent a letter to Obama on Thursday asking him join her in seeking a resolution. Obama also has said he wants to find a fair way to seat delegates from the two states.
The party's rules committee will meet on May 31 to discuss the issue. Obama was not on the ballot in Michigan and no candidates campaigned in either state because of the dispute.
(Additional reporting by Steve Holland, David Alexander, Richard Cowan, Thomas Ferraro and Kevin Drawbaugh, writing by John Whitesides; editing by Howard Goller and Vicki Allen)
(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at http:/blogs.reuters.com/trail08/ )
