Washington: Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama met Hillary Clinton hours after his vanquished rival disavowed a campaign by her supporters to make her his vice presidential running mate.
Reporters came to know of the surprise meeting at Clinton's home in Washington, D.C. Thursday night when they learned that Obama was not aboard his press plane, with aides saying staff 'scheduled him some meetings' in the capital, CNN reported.
There was no immediate word on what transpired at the meeting between the two rivals who have fought a long bitter fight for the party nomination.
Clinton, who has not conceded the race so far, plans to announce her 'strong support' to Obama in his White House bid at a Washington event Saturday to thank her supporters. But she may still stop short of endorsing his candidature as a bargaining chip for the number two spot.
The former first lady plans to suspend her campaign within days, her campaign said. By suspending instead of dropping out altogether, Clinton would technically remain a candidate, entitled to keep state-wide pledged delegates and district-level delegates.
Earlier, in a statement issued by Clinton's campaign, she said the supporters were acting on their own, and that the choice of a running mate was 'Senator Obama's, and his alone.'
The statement came after two days in which a number of her key supporters had pushed the idea of an Obama-Clinton 'dream' ticket, saying it would salve wounds in the Democratic Party and assure a Democratic victory in the November presidential election.
And Clinton had made no obvious effort to discourage the effort, telling New York lawmakers in a private conference call earlier this week that she was open to serving as Obama's running-mate.
Obama, formally opening his general election campaign in Bristol, Virginia Thursday, complimented Clinton as he began to exert control over the Democratic Party and to focus its efforts on the race against the presumptive Republican nominee Senator John McCain.
'I know I'm a better candidate because I ran against her,' Obama said, speaking over the applause of several hundred supporters. 'She's tough. She is just an outstanding candidate, and a great public servant.'
Clinton did not rule out accepting the position if it is offered, even as she said she had not authorised the campaign on her behalf.
'While Senator Clinton has made clear throughout this process that she will do whatever she can to elect a Democrat to the White House, she is not seeking the vice presidency, and no one speaks for her but her,' Howard Wolfson, one of the Clinton campaign's chief strategists, said in a statement provided to the New York Times.
'The choice here is Senator Obama's, and his alone.'
Obama said Thursday he's in no rush to pick a vice presidential candidate, telling CNN 'everybody needs to settle down' and let the vetting process run its course.
It's not in his best interest, or in the interest of his former rival Hillary Clinton, to make a hasty decision about who will serve as his running mate, he said.
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