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WASHINGTON: George McGovern, the Democrats’ defeated presidential
candidate in 1972, called Wednesday on Hillary Clinton to bow out of
this year’s race and threw his support behind frontrunner Barack
Obama.
The former senator from South Dakota, who had
previously endorsed Clinton, said it was time for the Democratic
Party to unite against Republican John McCain for November’s White
House election.
“I do not see how Clinton could now prevail in
winning the nomination. Barack Obama has an overwhelming lead in
pledged delegates,” McGovern, 85, told Fox News a day after the
North Carolina and Indiana primaries.
“I do not see how she has much chance of
pulling out the nomination now, and I think it is important for
Democrats to get united to win the general election in November.
That is why I have made the statement that I have.”
McGovern, who suffered a landslide defeat in
1972 to President Richard Nixon, became one of the most senior
Democrats yet to urge Clinton to quit.
But prominent supporters of Obama, who trounced
Clinton in North Carolina and lost by a very narrow margin to her in
Indiana Tuesday, refused to join the party elder in urging her to
withdraw.
“As much as we believe in Barack Obama and
know what a great president he will be, there is sincere respect for
Hillary Clinton within this campaign,” Missouri Senator Claire
McCaskill said on a conference call.
“I think it would be inappropriate and awkward
and wrong for any of us to tell Senator Clinton when it is time for
the race to be over,” she said.
“We are confident she is going to do the right
thing for the Democratic nominee, we are confident that she will
work hard to unite our party.”
Tuesday’s results left Obama an estimated 183
delegates shy of the 2,025 needed for the nomination, and Clinton
virtually out of options to overtake him in the six contests left
before the primary season ends on June 3.
But the former first lady, who jumped right back
on the campaign trail Wednesday with a stop in West Virginia, showed
no sign of letting up and every sign of taking the fight beyond
June.
-- AFP
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