Dodd: Obama, Clinton ticket not likely
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/05/11/art.dodd2.gi.jpg caption="Sen. Chris Dodd says it’s “very clear” Obama will be his party’s nominee."]
(CNN) - Sen. Chris Dodd on Sunday joined the chorus of Democratic leaders downplaying the idea of a joint ticket between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
"These are two great candidates who fought very hard, but my sense is today that that probably won't be the ticket," Dodd said on NBC's "Meet The Press."
Dodd, who abandoned his presidential bid on January 3, said he thinks it's "very clear" Obama will be his party's nominee.
Dodd expressed confidence that his party would rally around Obama, despite the lengthy primary season.
Obama campaign chief David Axelrod on Sunday predicted the process would be over soon, but avoided talk of any potential running mates.
"We'll focus on the vice presidential choice at the appropriate time," he said on "Fox News Sunday."
Clinton campaign Chairman Terry McAuliffe has said a joint ticket would be a "great idea," but the New York senator's strategist on Sunday said "any talk of it is premature."
"I haven't discussed it with her. She hasn't discussed it with me. I've seen no evidence of her interest in it," he told Fox.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said it's up to the candidates to sort out the ticket.
"Only two people can make that decision and that's Obama and Clinton. No one else can make it. If that happens, it happens, but it can only be with the two of them," he said on ABC's "This Week."
He said the extended fight for the Democratic nomination has been "great for the country," pointing to increased voter registration for his party.
Reid said people should "just relax" because the primaries will be over June 3.
The renewed buzz of what some have called the "dream ticket" comes as Obama closes in on the Democratic nomination in recent days.
The senator from Illinois last week had a double-digit win in North Carolina and a narrow loss in Indiana.
Obama holds a commanding lead in the number of pledged delegates awarded from primaries and caucuses: 1,592 to Clinton's 1,424.
Following a flurry of new endorsements over the past few days, he trails Clinton by just one in the race for superdelegates.
At the beginning of the year, Clinton led the superdelegate race by more than 100.
Superdelegates are party leaders and officials who vote for the candidate of their choice at the Democratic convention in August.
The focus of the Democratic race has largely turned to the superdelegates because they outnumber the remaining pledged delegates that are up for grabs.
According to CNN's latest calculations, Clinton has 273 superdelegates to Obama's 272.
The Democrats face off Tuesday in West Virginia, where polls show Clinton with a substantial lead.
Clinton has a 43-percentage-point advantage over Obama, 66 percent to 23 percent, according to a survey from the American Research Group released Friday.
The poll was conducted after Tuesday's primary results and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
"This state is really Hillary Clinton's wheelhouse. It's an older population, socially conservative, blue-collar workers," said Kennie Bass, a political reporter for WCHS in West Virginia.
Obama acknowledges that West Virginians favor Clinton.
"She is going to do very well in West Virginia and Kentucky. She will win those states, in all likelihood, by significant margins," Obama said this week.
Obama took a break from the campaign trail Sunday, spending Mother's Day in Chicago, Illinois.
Clinton had three stops scheduled in West Virginia ahead of the primary, and her husband, Bill Clinton, was campaigning for her in Oregon.
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Ü HILLARY SUPPORTERS!!!!!!! Ü HILLARY SUPPORTERS!!!!!!!
IF YOU WANT TO SUPPORT JOHN MCCAIN, NOBODY IS STOPPING YOU, YOU CAN WRITE HILLARY CLINTON ON THE BALLOT AS MANY TIMES AS YOU PLEASE, IT STILL WOULDN"T MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE, WE ARE TIRED OF YOU ALL SCREAMING WE WILL VOTE FOR MCCAIN NOT OBAMA ( SO WHAT ) IF MCCAIN WINS AND YOU RECEIVE A LETTER IN THE MAIL SAYING PACK YOUR BAGS YOU HAVE TO GO TO IRAQ THEN THATS YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU WERE SOME KIND OF SUPPORTER THEN HILLARY WOULDN"T HAVE TO LOAN HER CAMP ANY MONEY ( DO WHATS RIGHT SEND HILLARY SOME MONEY TO GET OUT OF DEBT ) AND STOP COMPLAINING, INSTEAD OF LEAVING OBAMA SUPPORTERS HATE MESSAGES GO TO HILLARYdotCOM AND HIT THE CONTRIBUTION TAB AND HELP OUT WITH HER DEBT HILLARY SUPPORTERS WILL TEE TEE ON YOU AND TELL YOU IT"S RAINING IT"S 2 THINGS PEOPLE HATE 2 SEE FALL FROM THE SKY AND THATS BIRD POOP & UNEDUCATED SUPPORTERS !!!!!!!!!!!
I submitted a commnet earlier and it went something like this. The pig in the pantsuit is roasted. Please stick a fork in her, she is DONE!
lets face it. if hillary is not the dems nominee then her base will turn on the party. Look at the poles. over 40 percent of her base wil either vote for McCain or just stay home. Also the the green party will have their own person up on the ticket. that will take votes away from Nobama.
He is not electable period,
if i can not vote for hillary then i will look forward to having a old man in the white house.
McCain 08
Hillary 12
Hillary is not running for VP! She is running for the top job–did this man not know that? What an idiot. Another nervous democrat that is not sleeping at night for fear he will wake up and Hillary will be ahead! Just take a tranquilizer, Dodd, you look like you need it!
t's just been reported that Hillary Clinton has been having an affair for the last 8 years..The clinton campaign is just now starting to put the spin on this story, but it just won't die. expect to hear about this on every news cycle by the end of the week…
mccain 08
It may not be the best ticket evr but may be pragmatic tough.
She has had some experience that may prove useful, who knows.
Go Obama go!!!
Obama can 08!
Obama should have the privilege of choosing his on VP – someone that can unify the party without being too far to the left. A moderate or conservative democrat that attracts Clintons demographics would be best.
If hillary won the nomination then she has no choice but to accept Obama has her VP but Obama is free to chose who ever he wants. I hope he chooses Joe Biden a person with Vast Foreign Policy Experience and will kill the Rupublicans arugment in the Fall.
If Democrats vote for McBush because their candidate did not get the Democratic nomination, then you find a way to sleep at night knowing you got Roe V Wade overturned and women are dying via back alley terminations like the old days. Suck it up! MBush is much worse and you know it.
Fran, I take it you are one of Hillary's 'feminist' supporters who would vote for any woman on the ticket and who would rather slash and burn the country and its citizens' future if Hillary isn't the Democratic nominee. I have great hope that the remainder of women in the country won't follow your lead . . . and instead choose to use their intellect when voting.
I think republicans are posing as Hillary supporters on these postings in order to help McCain. They're saying to write in Clinton if she doesn't get the nomination. That way McCain surly wins. I hope Hillary supporters don't fall for this.