By Amy Chozick

BRISTOL, Va. — Barack Obama may not be jumping to invite Hillary Clinton to be his running mate, but a growing contingent of Clinton backers is trying to convince him she is the best choice.

Several organizations have emerged to motivate voters to sign petitions and write letters to the Obama campaign to protest the picking of anyone other than the former first lady to be the Democratic candidate for vice president.

At least five independent groups have formed recently to push an Obama-Clinton ticket through Web sites and mass emails to members of the media. Some of the better-funded groups hope to air television ads pushing their cause.

Sen. Clinton says she plans to declare Saturday that she is supporting Sen. Obama. Her anticipated concession has sparked an outpouring of voters voicing their desire to see a joint ticket, something most political pundits and many within the Obama and Clinton campaigns say is unlikely.

The senators met privately Thursday night, their campaigns said in a joint statement. “It’s the end of the primary process. They wanted to talk about bringing these campaigns together in unity,” Obama communications director Robert Gibbs said…

Boston-based political consultant Jim Spencer, an Obama supporter, founded Citizens Consent, a nonprofit independent group in 2004 to push Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry to choose former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards as his running mate. Sen. Kerry chose Sen. Edwards, but lost the election.

Mr. Spencer has amassed more than 10,000 signatures this year to push for an Obama-Clinton ticket. His Web site, DraftObamaClinton.com has had Sen. Obama on the top of the ticket since it launched in March.

Mr. Spencer, who hasn’t worked for the Obama campaign, funds the operation through his for-profit political consulting firm, the Campaign Network, and donations.

“At this point we just need to move beyond Harold Ickes, Terry McAuliffe and Lanny Davis and get regular people weighing in,” Mr. Spencer says, naming three of Sen. Clinton’s top aides.

A Pew Research Center survey conducted May 21-25 says 53% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters would like an Obama-Clinton ticket. While 76% of Clinton supporters said they favored the joint ticket, 54% of Obama supporters said they didn’t think he should choose Sen. Clinton…

Sen. Obama told reporters on Thursday to “settle down” about the vice-presidential choice and let the vetting process run its course. “The next time you hear from me about the vice-presidential selection process will be when I announce a candidate,” he said.

Read the full article on the Wall Street Journal website

Op-Ed by Joan Vennochi

Hillary’s women have a choice to make.

Do they stick with their party and the candidate who reminds them of every man who got the raise and promotion before they did? Or, do they switch to the Republican nominee who reminds them of the dad with whom they disagree, but respect?

If Barack Obama picks Hillary Clinton as his running mate, the choice is easy: Obama-Clinton in November. If he selects another Democrat, it could get more complicated.

Without Hillary on the ticket, can a Clinton supporter seamlessly transfer loyalty to Obama, who is likable enough, unless he slips and calls her “sweetie”?

Or, is “sweetie” automatically preferable to John McCain’s response to a female supporter who asked the Arizona senator back in November, “How do we beat the bitch?” As the room erupted in laughter, McCain replied: “That’s an excellent question.”

On Tuesday night, Obama and McCain lavished praise on Clinton, the loser with the power that comes with winning nearly 18 million votes over the long primary season. The two rivals covet Clinton’s constituency, so both gushed over the candidate who put it in play.

“As the father of three daughters, I owe her a debt for inspiring millions of women to believe there is no opportunity in this great country beyond their reach,” said McCain.

Obama said, “Senator Hillary Clinton has made history in this campaign not just because she’s a woman who has done what no woman has done before, but because she’s a leader who inspires millions of Americans with her strength, her courage, and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight.”

Their groveling means one thing: leverage. Clinton has it, and she’s using it to play political hardball, just like any man would do.

For once, her leverage has nothing to do with being Bill Clinton’s wife. As Clinton vies for the second spot on the Democratic ticket, her power is rooted in the campaign she waged on her own behalf, in the millions of men and women who chose Clinton over Obama and are now up for grabs.

If voting were purely scientific, Obama could expect many Clinton supporters to swiftly get behind him after contemplating his stand versus McCain’s on issues like Iraq, healthcare, abortion, taxes, and education. But voting isn’t completely rational, as proven by the outcome in 2004.

Read the full article on Boston.com

by Joey Gomez and Steve Taylor

BROWNSVILLE, June 3 - State Rep. Eddie Lucio, D-San Benito, one of Barack Obama’s top surrogates in South Texas, says the Illinois senator should pick Hillary Clinton as his running mate in November.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Lucio said there was no doubt in his mind that Obama had secured the Democratic nomination for president. However, he also paid tribute to Clinton for running a “great” race.

Asked if he would like to see the so-called Dream Team of Obama and Clinton at the top of the Democratic ticket in November, Lucio said: “I am for that Dream Ticket 1,000 percent and pray every night that happens because that will trickle down to every Democratic race across the country.”

Lucio made his comments just as the final two primaries of the 2008 campaign were about to get underway in Montana and South Dakota. Obama appeared to be getting close to the 2,118 delegates he needs to win the Democratic nomination as a succession of super delegates announced they were backing him.

During the Texas primary, Lucio told the Guardian that he felt like the “Lone Ranger” in the Valley because almost every other elected official was in the Clinton camp. He hoped other Democrats along the border would see what he saw in Obama. “He’s like a rock star,” Lucio said in February, just before Obama’s first visit to the Valley.

However, when the March 4 primary came around, Clinton scored some of her biggest wins in Texas border counties. Clinton won 77.3 percent of the vote in Webb County, 72.5 percent in Hidalgo County, 69 percent in El Paso County, and 67.6 percent in Cameron County.

“I am respectful of the fact that Senator Clinton ran a very good race. She has rallied the border. She has brought new people to the table that had not participated before. It is my hope that they join forces,” Lucio said.

Lucio said he does not buy the argument that Clinton is more likely to defeat presumptive Republican nominee John McCain in November than Obama. Some of the top Clinton supporters in the Valley say Obama could falter because he has not polled as well among Hispanics, women, and blue-collar working class voters.

“There’s enough anti-Bush, and anti-administration, people out there that I think either of the Democratic candidates would win,” Lucio said.

Read the full article on the Rio Grande Guardian website

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman May 26, 2008

Calls for Obama-Clinton ticket.

He writes:

What about offering Mrs. Clinton the vice presidency? If I were Mr. Obama, I’d do it. Adding Mrs. Clinton to the ticket — or at least making the offer — might help heal the wounds of an ugly primary fight.

Read his entire column on NYTimes.com

Debby Applegate writes:

Senator Obama may have claimed the “historic first” entry point to the White House, but couldn’t Senator Clinton receive the vice presidential nomination, allowing both black and white, male and female, to enter that door together? After all, we’ll all have a say this time around.

Read the full column at NYTimes.com

While Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and her advisers insist that she is determined to win the Democratic nomination, friends of the couple say that former President Bill Clinton, for one, has begun privately contemplating a different outcome for her: As Senator Barack Obama’s running mate.

The reports about Mr. Clinton’s musings surface as the Obama camp has quietly begun the process of searching for a partner on the Democratic ticket.

The prospect of an Obama-Clinton ticket has been fodder for political gossip for months, with some Democratic leaders pushing the idea as a way to unify the party. The Obama and Clinton campaigns have consistently shrugged off the idea, however, and Mrs. Clinton has been adamant that she is only interested in the presidency.

Yet anyone who knows the Clintons is well aware that, at times, they come to politics with different motivations. Both of them want to return to the White House; Mrs. Clinton, of New York, also enjoys being a senator, while Mr. Clinton, according to associates, sees the vice presidency as perhaps her best path to becoming president someday if she loses the nominating fight. And Mr. Clinton has his own ideas about his wife’s best interests — even if she sometimes does not share them.

A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton’s campaign said Thursday that Mr. Clinton had not had private conversations in which he was pushing her for the vice presidency or arguing that she deserved it, and that he believed the choice of a running mate was a personal one for the nominee.

Friends of the former president say his musings have been more casual: He believes that an Obama-Clinton ticket could help unify the party, and he thinks she has earned a meeting with Mr. Obama to discuss the possibility.

According to these friends, who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to be identified revealing private talks, Mr. Clinton believes that his wife’s victories in major primary battles, like Ohio and Pennsylvania, and the 16 million votes cast for her candidacy make her the proper choice for Mr. Obama.

“If she’s not going to be the nominee, then he wants her in the second spot,” said one friend of the Clintons. “In the long run, it’s the best way for her to run again in 2016.”

By MAGGIE HABERMAN

May 23, 2008 –

Barack Obama yesterday launched his search for a running mate - as Democratic calls for a “marriage” to rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton reached new heights.

With the party sharply divided after a bruising primary season - and with Clinton having won many key states - a growing number of Democratic officials are now openly talking about an Obama-Clinton ticket that could unite the factions and take back the White House in November.

Bill Clinton is among those who want his wife on Obama’s ticket, Time magazine reported yesterday.

The former president “is pushing real hard for this to happen,” says a friend, according to the magazine.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a Clinton booster, told The Post, “I am one that believes that if it works out that Senator Obama is the nominee, the strongest ticket would be Senator Clinton as vice president. No question in my mind.

“Because the constituencies in the votes are different,” she added.

“The weight of the states he carried versus the states she carried. It’s different. And, therefore, if you combine them both, you’ve got the best electoral path.”

Read the full post on nypost.com

Op-Ed by Mario M. Cuomo

A DEMOCRATIC disaster in the November election looms, but it can be avoided by a demonstration of true leadership by the two candidates.

By the end of the primary process, no matter how robust the turnout appears, less than half of all Democratic voters will have expressed their preference. And because the primaries will have extended over such a long period, some voters will have changed their preference by the convention in August. Other entanglements also threaten the possibility of a selection at the convention that would be supported by both constituencies of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Two states with significant Democratic strength - Florida and Michigan - may be denied votes, and the specific role of the superdelegates may become a matter of possibly irresolvable contentiousness…

Read the full article on The Boston Globe site

by Jim Spencer

Turnout is at record levels, ratings for political news shows are through the roof, and even water-cooler conversations are dominated by the intensity of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Could interest in this year’s election possible get any more intense? You bet — with an Obama-Clinton ticket.

Recent political maneuvering from one of the camps aside, the tandem of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton makes perfect sense. Rank-and-file Democrats, Independents, and growing numbers of moderate Republicans have already cast their ballots for one or the other during this primary season. Yet, neither candidate can mathematically reach the threshold of delegates needed to secure the nomination. They are, in essence, tied. Obama has won more states, and Clinton has won key states.

It’s time for them to combine forces.

For months, workers, volunteers and supporters in both campaigns have argued for an Obama-Clinton ticket. There is little if any animosity between the two camps, despite sometimes self-interested press coverage.

The media may want to keep the contest going to boost readership and ratings. But the country is at a turning point and eager to move forward toward November and beyond. Repairing our standing in the world and restoring balance back here at home are urgent challenges. Let’s get started.

That’s why we have launched DraftObamaClinton.com to encourage our two standard bearers to team up for the kind of positive change that is the hallmark of this election. Sen. Obama has inspired millions by showing that we can turn the page and write a fresh new chapter in our nation’s politics. Sen. Clinton has proven her commitment with long years and tenacious and successful public service.

DraftObamaClinton.com is a tool for letting Democratic party leaders and convention delegates know that positive change is possible. It offers an online petition and other ways to spread the message that we can not only make history, we can make a difference — if we stop pointing fingers and join hands.

With ordinary voters getting involved like never before, we are using new tactics to take our political process in a new direction. We are making it more relevant and responsive.

The next President will have to do more than govern. He will have to inspire. Sen. Obama has proven his ability to do that, appealing to our best instincts after years of attack politics and political gridlock in Washington, D.C. Sen. Clinton has been in the trenches and acquired a depth of experience that will be unmatched in the Vice President’s office.

Together, an Obama-Clinton ticket will draw an exciting contrast with a Republican campaign staffed by lobbyists and other Washington-insiders.

Our government works best with the consent of its citizens, and our presidential nominee chooses the vice president with the consent of the convention delegates. We want a ticket that can win in November and govern effectively over the next four years. And we think citizens deserve a voice in the vice presidential selection process.

Announcing the new Draft Obama Clinton shop at CafePress. Show your support with t-shirts, bumper stickers, buttons, yard signs, hats, mugs and more, all with the “Draft Obama Clinton” logo.