THE US:HILLARY CLINTON will end her presidential campaign tomorrow and publicly endorse Barack Obama as the Democratic presidential nominee, following intense pressure from her supporters in Congress.
In a letter to supporters yesterday morning, Mrs Clinton said she would work for party unity to defeat Republican John McCain in November's election.
"I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party's nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise," she said.
"This has been a long and hard-fought campaign but, as I have always said, my differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans. I will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama. The stakes are too high and the task before us too important to do otherwise."
Mrs Clinton's endorsement will come four days after Mr Obama won enough delegates to secure the nomination and her delay in conceding defeat has caused disquiet among some of her closest allies.
On Wednesday, a group of her congressional backers, led by House ways and means committee chairman Charlie Rangel, told Mrs Clinton in a conference call that it was time to give up the fight.
"The quicker we proved that we were committed to Senator Obama, then the better for all of us," Mr Rangel said yesterday.
Some of Mrs Clinton's supporters are promoting her as a vice-presidential pick but Mr Obama, who has appointed a three-person team to vet possible running mates, said it was too soon to make 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," he said.
Mr Obama moved yesterday to take control of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), leaving Howard Dean as chairman but installing one of his own aides, Paul Tewes, to beef up the party's campaigning role. The DNC said yesterday that it was following Mr Obama's lead by banning contributions from federal lobbyists and political action groups.
"We will not take a dime from Washington lobbyists," Mr Obama said yesterday at a town hall meeting in Bristol, Virginia.
"We are going to change how Washington works. They will not run our party. They will not run our White House. They will not drown out the views of the American people."
Mr McCain announced yesterday that he raised more than $21 million in May, his best fundraising month to date, and entered June with $31.5 million cash on hand. Mr McCain has raised nearly $115 million since the beginning of 2007, less than half the $264 million Mr Obama has raised in the same period.
Mr Obama's fundraising advantage has not been matched by the DNC, however, which has raised $82.3 million during the current election cycle, less than half the $166 million raised by the Republican National Committee.
