HILLARY Clinton last night bowed out of her nomination campaign and announced her full support for rival Barack Obama.
"I endorse him and throw my full support behind him," she told cheering crowds of supporters in Washington. "I am standing with Senator Obama today to say yes we can," she said, referring to his campaign slogan.
"The way to continue our fight is t
o take our energy, our passion, our strength and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States."
She told her audience at the National Building Museum that she was the latest in a long line of fighters for women's rights: "If we could blast 50 women into space we will one day launch a woman into the White House."
Clinton made no mention of any future role in Obama's campaign, amid efforts by her supporters to persuade her rival to accept her as his vice presidential nominee. Obama did not watch the speech, preferring to play a game of golf.
Clinton was left to rue a series of mistakes that saw her fortunes turn in less than six months from front runner to runner-up.
"If you'd said six months ago or eight months ago that she was not going to be the nominee I would have been extremely surprised," said David Gergen, a former advisor to presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton.
The rot began last year when, confident she was far ahead in the polls, Clinton failed to send staff to the smaller states where Obama was quietly setting up branch offices.
It continued when Clinton failed to harness the power of the internet, used by Obama to raise record sums of money with an army of 1.5 million donors.
The shockwave felt when Obama won the first primary in Iowa pushed her campaign off balance and it never fully recovered.
She sacked campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle in February but saw her rival surge ahead after the 22-state votes on Super Tuesday.
Clinton's husband Bill compounded her problems when his criticism of Obama led the media to label him her "attack dog." And when in April Clinton falsely claimed to have endured sniper fire during a visit to Bosnia, many felt the strain was starting to show.
She was blamed for throwing race into the equation by claiming she was the candidate of the "white, hard-working" voters.
Meanwhile, funding problems saw her loan her campaign £5m from her own pocket, helping to rack up a debt of £15m. Now she has reportedly asked Obama to join her in an appeal for cash from ordinary voters to pay off the loans.
