US:BARACK OBAMA and Hillary Clinton will campaign together next week for the first time since the former first lady left the presidential race.
The two senators will make a joint campaign appearance next Friday, a day after they meet some of Mrs Clinton's top donors, many of whom have been reluctant to support Mr Obama's campaign.
When she suspended her campaign earlier this month, Mrs Clinton said she would "work her heart out" for her former rival but Mr Obama said this week that they had not spoken in recent days.
"I have not had conversations with senator Clinton because she has been getting a well-deserved vacation. We will be speaking, I think, in the next few days or certainly the next week and will be having an ongoing conversation."
Mr Obama announced next week's joint appearance as he defended his decision to abandon federal funding for his presidential campaign despite a promise last year that he would abide by federal spending limits.
Writing in USA Today yesterday, Mr Obama said he still favoured public funding of elections but insisted the current system is unworkable. "That's why I'm asking my supporters to declare our independence and run the type of campaign that reflects the grassroots values that have already changed our politics and brought us this far. With this decision, this campaign is in the voters' hands in a way no other campaign has ever been before," he wrote.
Republican John McCain has said he will accept almost $85 million (€54 million) in public funding under the federal funding system, and the spending limit that goes with it. Mr McCain's campaign yesterday sought to portray Mr Obama's reversal on public funding as part of a pattern of inconsistency.
"Because of his rapid ascent and the relative lack of record from which the American people can judge, the words that Barack Obama use deserve a level of scrutiny befitting the importance that he places on them. But when examined closely, more often than not these words are empty of any meaning in the light of his record and reality," McCain adviser Steve Schmidt said in a memo.
"As we scrutinise Barack Obama's words, it is increasingly difficult for those of us with the responsibility of following this year's election closely to discern what Obama truly believes at his core on the issues of great importance to the American people."
Mr Obama yesterday criticised his Republican rival's support for offshore oil drilling, insisting that it would produce no benefits until 2030. "Even then you're looking at cents on a gallon of gas," Mr Obama told Democratic governors at a meeting in Chicago.
Mr Obama said although nuclear power is not "a panacea", the US should consider investing in research into how nuclear waste can be stored safely for its reuse.
