Democratic Presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama had a few words of advice on Saturday for his rival, Senator Hillary Clinton: Do not drop out on my account.
"My attitude is that Senator Clinton can run as long as she wants," Obama said at a news conference in a high school gymnasium. "Her name is on the ballot. She is a fierce and formidable opponent and she obviously believes she would make the best nominee and the best president."
A few prominent Obama supporters have recently suggested that the time has come for Clinton to consider withdrawing from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
PHOTO: AFP
Senator Patrick Leahy said last week that Clinton could not win the race and that her attacks on Obama were hurting the party's chances of winning the presidential election.
Clinton's forces have mounted a vigorous counter attack, saying she trails by a fairly narrow margin in the overall popular vote and in the delegate count. She has suggested to two allies that party leaders are trying to bully her.
Former president Bill Clinton dismissed the notion that the discord had hurt the party's chances of capturing the White House.
"We just need to relax and let this happen," the Associated Press cited Bill Clinton as saying in Girardville, Pennsylvania. "Nobody's talking about wrecking the party. Everywhere I go, all these working people say: `Don't you dare let her drop out. Don't listen to those people in Washington, they don't represent us."'
On Saturday, Obama, answering a question on the subject at the news conference here, seemed to agree with the former president.
"You know, there's no doubt that among some of my supporters or some of her supporters, there has probably been some irritation created," Obama said.
"You can't tell me that some of my supporters are going to say: `Well, we'd rather have the guy who may want to stay in Iraq for a hundred years because we're mad that Senator Clinton ran a negative ad against Senator Obama.' And I think the converse is true as well," he said.
Obama made the comments during a campaign swing through Pennsylvania, which holds its primary on April 22. Polls there show him running behind Hillary Clinton by double-digit margins.
In the coming days, Obama will travel toward the eastern part of the state, including to the vote-rich Philadelphia area, where he hopes to draw his strongest support among black voters and suburbanites to slice into his rival's edge.
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