US:HILLARY CLINTON will urge Democrats to unite behind Barack Obama as their presidential nominee today when she addresses thousands of supporters at a farewell rally in Washington.
Both campaigns yesterday refused to give details of what Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton discussed at a mystery-shrouded meeting on Thursday night, beyond saying that they talked about party unity.
The meeting, at which no aides were present, took place at the Washington home of California senator Dianne Feinstein, an early Clinton backer who has been urging Mr Obama to choose the former first lady as his running mate.
"They talked for about an hour," Mrs Feinstein said. "Just them. No staff. There were no press, no staff. They had one person from each campaign that was in my study separately and I guess the security people outside. They got along very well."
"And you know, this is a deeply personal time too. You are sorting out your feelings. Hillary is going to be giving a big speech tomorrow. Barack is trying to put things together for a major presidential campaign. So, there are a lot of decompression, nerve-endings, all these things that need to kind of come together and I think the opportunity to sit down, just the two of them, have an hour together was positive."
Earlier, Mrs Clinton sought to dampen speculation that she is hoping to become Mr Obama's running mate, although her campaign office stopped short of saying that she would not accept the post if offered.
"She is not seeking the vice-presidency, and no one speaks for her but her. The choice here is Sen Obama's and his alone," Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said.
Mr Obama will spend the next two weeks attempting to win over working-class voters who backed Mrs Clinton in the primaries, visiting Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, states she won.
"What we're going to do over the next two and a half weeks is focus on the economy, which is what is pressing on the American people so severely," Mr Obama told USA Today.
He told reporters on his campaign plane he had a jovial conversation with Republican presumptive nominee John McCain, who had called to congratulate him on securing the Democratic nomination.
"We joked if you'd asked any of the pundits a year ago whether it would be him and me as nominees, you wouldn't have gotten many takers," Mr Obama said.
Mr Obama has backed away from his statement this week that Jerusalem "must remain undivided" as Israel's capital, after Palestinians said the Democrat had closed the door on peace.
"We reject these words," Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas said. "Jerusalem is one of the files under negotiation. The entire world knows perfectly well that we will never accept a state without Jerusalem. That should be clear."
Mr Obama backtracked during an interview with CNN, acknowledging that the future of Jerusalem was part of the final status talks between Israelis and Palestinians.
"Obviously, it's going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations," he said.
"As a practical matter, it would be very difficult to execute. And I think that it is smart for us to - to work through a system in which everybody has access to the extraordinary religious sites in Old Jerusalem but that Israel has a legitimate claim on that city."
Mr Obama made his original statement about Jerusalem during a hawkish speech to the pro-Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee during which he also spoke about his readiness to use military force against Iran.
Mr Obama has fired or distanced himself from a number of policy advisors who expressed sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians and favoured more nuanced US support for Israel.