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Hillary Clinton not to seek VP post

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-06-25 13:25

WASHINGTON -- Former US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton ruled out the possibility on Tuesday that she would seek the vice presidential post in a Barack Obama administration.

United States Senator Hillary Clinton speaks to her supporters during a rally in Washington June 7, 2008. Hillary ruled out the possibility on Tuesday that she would seek the vice presidential post in a Barack Obama administration. [Agencies]

"I am not seeking any other position," the New York senator said during her first public appearance since she suspended her campaign on June 7.

"You know, it is not something that I think about. This is totally Senator Obama's decision and that's the way it should be," she told reporters at the Senate.

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However, it is a US political tradition for potential VP candidates to deny their intentions to seek the position but most of them would not refuse the nomination.

Even before the former first lady gave up her bid for the White House, her supporters called on Obama to share the dream ticket with her, as she gained 18 million votes in the primary season, if she was beaten in the race.

Some of them said that they were pondering voting for Republican presidential candidate John McCain in the November general elections if Clinton's name did not appear in the ballot.

Clinton once again warned her supporters on Tuesday against casting a protest vote for the Republicans, saying "anyone who voted for me has very little in common with the Republican Party."

"If you care about the issues I care about and the future that I outlined during my campaign, then you really have to stay with us in the Democratic Party and vote for Senator Obama to be our next president," she said.

The two former rivals are set to show up at a private fundraising event on Thursday and a public campaign rally on Friday, as a way to heal the party's wounds resulting from their neck-and-neck battle for the presidential nomination that lasted five months.

Her husband and former President Bill Clinton also vowed on Tuesday to do "whatever he can" to help Obama with his bid to be the first African-American president in the country's history.

In response, the Illinois senator said during an interview with CNN that he and the Clintons would be "working closely together over the next couple of weeks to put together a plan."

"They're going to want to campaign actively on behalf of the Democratic ticket," he said. "I am going to need them."