Obama-Clinton camps deny talks

Washington - The rival Democratic camps of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton denied on Sunday they were in talks to end their White House race through a deal on financial arrangements or the vice-presidency.

Clinton spokesperson Howard Wolfson insisted the former first lady remained convinced she could win the Democratic nomination, despite signs the party is coalescing behind her rival from Illinois.

On Friday, the deep-pocketed Obama prompted speculation of a deal to pay off Clinton's $20m of campaign debt if she bows out of the race and backs him for the nomination.

"Obviously, I'd want to have a broad range of discussion with Senator Clinton about how I could make her feel good about the process and have her on the team moving forward," the Illinois Senator said in Oregon.

But such talk was "premature", Obama stressed, as the nominating battle heads to six more states including Oregon.

Not looking for a deal

Speaking on Fox News on Sunday, Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod said about the debt question, "she hasn't asked, and we haven't offered".

"And the truth is I think that Senator Clinton will have the capacity to retire her debt. I don't believe that Senator Clinton is looking for a deal.

"I don't think that's what this is about," he said.

Axelrod strongly denied a weekend report by conservative commentator Robert Novak that Obama's wife Michelle had vetoed Clinton as his potential pick for vice-president, because of her "hostility" to the former first lady.

"That's false. There's been no discussion about vice-presidential nominees and this whole scenario," the Obama aide said.

"I know that this is the parlour game of choice in Washington. But we're just going out there and meeting voters, fighting for every delegate, fighting for every vote. That's what Senator Clinton is doing."

Wolfson said on Fox that Clinton was "going to keep going until she secures the nomination or until the nomination is decided in a different direction".

The New York senator's communications chief also denied the speculation of a deal in the works as the Democratic nominating race heads to its climax on June 3.

Clinton campaign not 'despondent'

"Absolutely not. First of all, there haven't been any conversations.

"I don't expect that there are going to be any conversations. This isn't about debt retirement or about the veep," he said.

Wolfson said the Clinton campaign was not despondent about the media flurry declaring Obama the victor, as a trickle of Democratic grandees known as "superdelegates" drifting to the Illinois senator picks up pace.

"Senator Clinton is a person of enormous strength, and her supporters like that about her.

"They admire the fact that she is sticking through this," he said.

"There is no reason for her not to continue this process."

- AFP