March 5, 2008 Clinton Offers Shared
Run to Obama By Arun Kumar
Washington
After three dramatic comeback victories in the US presidential race,
Hillary Clinton Wednesday hinted at the possibility of a joint run
for the White House with Democratic front-runner rival Barack Obama.
"That may be where this is headed, but of course we have to decide
who is on the top of ticket. I think the people of Ohio very clearly
said that it should be me," Clinton said on CBS's "The Early Show"
when asked if she and Obama should be on the same ticket.
On a second Super Tuesday night, Clinton vying to be America's first
woman president won crucial primaries in Texas, Ohio and Rhode
Island, snapping Obama's winning run in a dozen states, but the
contest still failed to clarify the Democratic race.
Making a bid to be America's first black chief executive, Obama
played down his losses, stressing that he still holds the lead in
terms of the number of delegates, and insisted he had the best
credentials to head against the now certain Republican nominee, John
McCain.
Obama, who had hoped to knock Clinton out Tuesday, said he would
prevail against a tenacious candidate who "just keeps on ticking".
"We still have an insurmountable lead," said Obama. "We're very
confident about where we're going to be and that we can win the
nomination and the general election."
Clinton acknowledged the race was close and said it would come down
to her credentials on national security and the economy.
But with neither candidate willing to call it quits, the Democratic
battle was set to go on long into the summer with the next big
showdown on April 22 in Pennsylvania with 158 delegates.
Before that they have two more warm-up matches with Wyoming offering
12 delegates in caucuses Saturday and Mississippi another 33 next
week.
Clinton said Wednesday that so-called "super-delegates" - 796 party
officials and top elected officials who also help decide the
nomination - should exercise "independent judgment" in selecting the
party's nominee.
"New questions are being raised, new challenges are being put to my
opponent," she said. "Super-delegates are supposed to take all that
information on board and they are supposed to be exercising the
judgment that people would have exercised if this information and
challenges had been available several months ago."
Clinton won about 54 percent of the Ohio vote in nearly complete
returns. She was winning just over half in the Texas primary. She
still faced a daunting task trying to overtake Obama in the
remaining contests.
After Tuesday's four-state contests with 370 delegates at stake,
Obama had a total of 1,477 delegates including super-delegates,
according to the latest count. Clinton had 1,391 delegates. Both
were thus still far away from the magic winning number of 2,025 for
the Democratic nomination.
Meanwhile, Vietnam War veteran McCain who sealed the Republican
nomination race Tuesday against odds that seemed steep only a few
months ago and all but impossible last summer, was headed for the
White House to pick up President George W. Bush' endorsement.
The president planned a five-star ceremony, with a formal welcome at
the White House's North Portico, lunch in his private dining room
and a formal endorsement in the Rose Garden for his rival in the
2000 presidential primaries.
Since then the two have forged an uneasy relationship during Bush's
administration and have clashed on issues such as campaign finance,
tax cuts, global warming and defining torture.
"I am very pleased to note that tonight, my friends, we have won
enough delegates to claim with confidence, humility and a sense of
great responsibility that I will be the Republican nominee for
president of the US," McCain, 71, told supporters in Dallas.
"The contest begins tonight," the former Navy fighter pilot and
prisoner of war in Vietnam said, looking ahead to a match-up with
either Obama or Clinton in the Nov 4 presidential poll.
Facing a couple of well-heeled candidates in a crowded field, he
opened his comeback in New Hampshire's leadoff primary, rolled over
former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani in Florida and finished off
former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney after Super Tuesday Feb 5.
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee hung in until Tuesday night,
gamely keeping up the fight weeks after failing to see the writing
on the wall.
"It's time for us to hit the reset button," he said finally. "We
started this effort with very little recognition and virtually no
resources. We ended with slightly more recognition and very few
resources."
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