Obama picks up endorsement of former rival Dodd

By Jeff Mason

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Democratic hopeful Barack Obama won the endorsement of former rival Chris Dodd on Tuesday as Hillary Clinton looked to an evening debate to shake up a U.S. presidential race tilting against her.

On the Republican side, presumptive nominee Sen. John McCain was forced to apologize in Cincinnati after Bill Cunningham, a conservative radio talk show host who preceded him at a rally, three times referred to Obama as "Barack Hussein Obama."

Cunningham also said a Clinton backer, former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, "looks like death warmed over."

"I want to disassociate myself from any disparaging remarks that were made," McCain told reporters. He said he did not select Cunningham to appear at the rally and had never met him.

Obama's full name is Barack Hussein Obama but for a critic to mention his middle name suggests an attempt to associate him with the late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Dodd, a veteran Connecticut senator who dropped out of the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in early January, announced his support for Obama at a news conference with the Illinois senator.

Dodd said he had been "skeptical like many others" of Obama but had been won over and felt now was "a moment of unity in our country" when Democrats need to rally behind him.

Obama and Clinton were to face off in a 9 p.m. EST (0200 GMT) debate in snowy Cleveland, Clinton's last big chance to turn around the race ahead of potentially pivotal contests next Tuesday in Texas and Ohio, two states where polls show Obama making a move.