BARACK Obama is resisting calls to make an early decision on a running mate for his presidential bid, with advocates of Hillary Clinton actually jeopardising her chances with strident lobbying for the vice-presidential slot.
The former first lady and now New York senator is due to officially endorse Mr Obama as her party's candidate on Saturday.
"I will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama," Mrs Clinton told supporte
rs in an e-mail yesterday morning. "The stakes are too high and the task before us too important to do otherwise."
Mrs Clinton's communications director, Howard Wolfson, said Mrs Clinton will express her support for Mr Obama at an event she is hosting in Washington DC, to thank supporters.
Now that Mrs Clinton is stepping aside, many of her supporters are now pushing for her to be the vice-presidential candidate. In their minds it is a "dream ticket" that would bring Mr Obama her enthusiastic legions and broaden his appeal to white and working-class voters.
But Mr Obama indicated he intends to take his time making a decision.
"We're not going to be rushed into it. I don't think Senator Clinton expects a quick decision and I don't even know that she's necessarily interested in that," Mr Obama told the NBC television station in an interview.
On Wednesday Mr Obama chose a three-person team to help him find a running mate, a day after he reached the delegate threshold to clinch the nomination.
His campaign said the vetting was to be managed by Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of the late president John F Kennedy; a former deputy attorney general, Eric Holder; and Jim Johnson, a Washington insider.
Mrs Clinton has told senior Democrats that she would be interested in the vice-presidential nomination. Mr Obama was non-committal after chatting with her on Wednesday morning at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's annual conference.
Bob Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, was lobbying members of the Congressional Black Caucus to urge Mr Obama to put Mrs Clinton on the ticket. He said he was doing so with her blessing.
New York Representative Charles Rangel, a founding member of the caucus, expressed doubts that Mr Johnson's approach would work.
"I don't really think that the way to get Obama to (choose] Clinton would be to put pressure on him. I think it would have the opposite effect," said Mr Rangel, an early Clinton supporter.
If Mr Obama made Mrs Clinton his running-mate, he might tap into her core supporters, who have so far eluded him, including masses of blue-collar voters in swing states, Hispanics and older voters, especially women.
However, Mr Obama has painted Mrs Clinton as a figure of another time and portrayed himself as a clean break from all that is past, and passé, about Washington.
A number of names are being touted as possible running-mates for Mr Obama, with the primary concern being to find someone who can convince those groups of older, white voters and Hispanics that an Obama presidency would listen to them.
Among the possibilities is Joseph Biden, 65, the senator from Delaware and the chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee. Mr Biden is a respected foreign policy expert who would give Mr Obama authority on the issue.
Another choice could be Wesley Clark, 63, a retired army general and former Nato commander, who ran unsuccessfully for the presidential nomination in 2004.
Mr Clark is a supporter of Hillary Clinton who could help rally the divided party behind Mr Obama and provide a boost on national security issues.
A popular choice would be Chuck Hagel, 61. The Republican senator from Nebraska, a conservative Vietnam veteran but outspoken critic of the Iraq war, would help Mr Obama reach out to independents and Republicans and reinforce his promise to bridge partisan divides – re-drawing the political map as he has put it.
But Mr Obama might not want to add a second senator to the ticket, and could be looking for a fresher face to reinforce his message that this election is about change and the future.
However, Mrs Clinton can still not be ruled out. Polls have shown strong Democratic support for a "dream team" ticket. and neither has Mr Obama ruled out the option, which would help unify the party.
But the former first lady also would bring complications, not least the return of Bill Clinton, the former president, into the White House.
Kenyans toast victory of 'local son' as they look forward to greater US aidREADING the banner headlines and hoisting plastic cups of "Obama" beer, Kenyans celebrated as it finally became apparent to them that one of their "own" could be the next president of the United States.
Some hoped for promises of more US aid to Africa, while others simply wanted to bask in the glory of a successful black politician with Kenyan roots.
And in the Kisumu region of western Kenya, where the candidate is seen as a local son, Mr Obama's Kenyan relatives described him as a great hope for both Kenya and the US.
"It would be good if he becomes president of the United States," his step-grandmother, Sarah Hussein Obama, said. "Barack could help build schools in Kenya, hospitals, help the orphans here. It would be a blessing."
The Democratic candidate was mostly raised by his American mother and her parents and did not know his late Kenyan father well. But his presidential bid has sparked excitement here – and his most recent visit in 2006 attracted thousands.
During the deadly violence following Kenya's presidential election in December, Obama appealed for peace on Kenyan radio. "God willing, I would like Mr Obama to be the first black African to be president of the United States," said William Ochieng, who was among a crowd in Kisumu toasting Mr Obama with a brew called Senator Keg – nicknamed "Obama" beer since his presidential campaign took off.
Ali Sadiq, 32, who manages a pub in Nairobi's sprawling Kibera shantytown, was confident an Obama presidency would mean an end to poverty in Kenya
"because Obama comes from this country. He will assist us in getting aid and also be a role model".
At the Uncle Sam barbershop in Nairobi, Kamau Gichamba also has high hopes of Mr Obama: "If Obama becomes president, the world will become a safer place. He will not stoke wars like Bush."
The full article contains 1086 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
