There's no nominee yet, Clinton reminds Obama

MAYSVILLE, Ky. -- Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that Barack Obama may be getting ahead of himself in acting like the party's nominee before the final primary contests are over.

Clinton and Obama are still set to face off in several more primaries, including in Kentucky and Oregon today, but Obama has been increasingly presenting himself as the nominee already facing Republican John McCain. The two debated foreign policy again Monday, paying little attention to Clinton.

"You can declare yourself anything, but if you don't have the votes, it doesn't matter," Clinton said Monday in a satellite interview with an Oregon television station before a campaign appearance in Kentucky.

Meanwhile, a top strategist for Obama has reached out to Clinton's former campaign manager about joining forces for the general election, the latest sign of political reconciliation between the two rivals as Obama begins consolidating his position as the likely Democratic nominee.

Obama strategist David Axelrod and former Clinton aide Patti Solis Doyle confirmed they had had informal conversations about how she might help the Illinois senator if he secures the presidential nomination as expected. The conversations were first reported on the Politico Web site.

"When the time comes, if we're the nominee, we're going to want to work with talented people across the party including those who worked for Senator Clinton," Axelrod said. "Patti's a good and talented person, and we all have a high regard for her."

He added, "No specific offers have been proffered, and none has been accepted. This is not an official entreaty from one campaign to another."

At an evening rally in Lexington, Clinton's husband portrayed her as the underdog who keeps coming back from the brink of defeat.

"They've declared her dead more times than a cat's got lives," the former president told a raucous crowd of about 2,500 supporters.

Clinton trails Obama in the delegate count by such a margin that it is mathematically unlikely for her to overtake him in the remaining primaries, which end June 3 with Montana and South Dakota.

But both candidates have been angling to win over the party leaders and elected officials known as superdelegates, whose support will likely determine the nominee. Obama recently surpassed Clinton in committed superdelegates.

Clinton also has tried to make the case that if the results of disputed primaries in Michigan and Florida are included, she would lead Obama narrowly in the overall popular vote. Clinton won both contests, but the results were voided because they took place in January in violation of Democratic Party rules. Obama and three other Democrats, but not Clinton, removed their names from Michigan's ballot after all the Democratic candidates agreed not to campaign there or in Florida.

Since then, Clinton has argued that both states' delegations should be seated at the Democratic convention in August. The DNC rules committee has a May 31 meeting to consider options.

"Once we include Florida and Michigan, neither Senator Obama nor I will have enough delegates to get the nomination, so there is no way that this is going to end anytime soon, because we're going to keep fighting for the nomination," Clinton told voters in Prestonburg, Ky.

To bolster her popular vote argument, Clinton's campaign has concentrated this week on Kentucky, where she's leading in polls, in order to run up her vote there. Last Friday, the New York senator left Oregon, where she trails Obama, to campaign exclusively in Kentucky.

Clinton also has been arguing to superdelegates that she is more tested and experienced and has a better chance of beating McCain.

She said Monday that she is the "more progressive candidate" and dismissed Obama's large crowds, like the record rally of an estimated 65,000 in Portland on Sunday. Clinton said Obama, who has refused to debate her since they faced off before the Pennsylvania primary last month, would "rather just talk to giant crowds than have questions asked."

Speaking to several hundred people in a high school gymnasium in Maysville, Clinton renewed her campaign's argument that Obama's victories in states with caucuses instead of primaries are somehow less significant because turnout was lower.

Clinton also revived her pitch that many states where he has beaten her, like Alaska, Idaho and Utah, matter less because they would not be competitive for Democrats in November.

"So I'm going to make my case and I'm going to make it until we have a nominee, but we're not going to have one today and we're not going to have one tomorrow and we're not going to have one the next day," Clinton said. "And if Kentucky turns out tomorrow, I will be closer to that nomination because of you."

Later in Prestonburg, Clinton added an unusual rationale for her candidacy -- an analysis by President Bush's former political adviser Karl Rove that she would be tougher for McCain to defeat.

"Just today I found some curious support for that position when one of the TV networks released an analysis done by -- of all people -- Karl Rove, saying that I was the stronger candidate," she said.

{BC-Clinton-Obama,450}

{Former Clinton aide, Obama strategist in talks}

{By BETH FOUHY}=

{Associated Press Writer}=

NEW YORK -- A top strategist for Barack Obama has reached out to Hillary Rodham Clinton's former campaign manager about joining forces for the general election, the latest sign of political reconciliation between the two rivals as Obama begins consolidating his position as the likely Democratic nominee.

Obama strategist David Axelrod and former Clinton aide Patti Solis Doyle confirmed they had had informal conversations about how she might help the Illinois senator if he secures the presidential nomination as expected. The conversations were first reported on the Politico Web site.

"When the time comes, if we're the nominee, we're going to want to work with talented people across the party including those who worked for Senator Clinton," Axelrod said. "Patti's a good and talented person, and we all have a high regard for her."

He added, "No specific offers have been proffered, and none has been accepted. This is not an official entreaty from one campaign to another."

Solis Doyle hails from Chicago, Obama's home turf, and met Axelrod 20 years ago while working in city government there. Her brother, Danny Solis, is a Chicago alderman.

A longtime Clinton loyalist, Solis Doyle began working as Hillary Clinton's scheduler during her husband's 1992 presidential bid and stayed with her through two terms in the White House. She helped manage the former first lady's first New York Senate bid in 2000, and began laying the groundwork for her presidential bid shortly thereafter.

In February, Solis Doyle stepped down as campaign manager after Clinton's third-place showing in Iowa and disappointing performance in the 22-state "Super Tuesday" contests Feb. 5. Maggie Williams, Clinton's former White House chief of staff, replaced Solis Doyle.

Clinton has vowed to stay in the race through the final primaries June 3 even as she trails Obama in the popular vote and among pledged and superdelegates. She has also pushed for a resolution of disputed primaries in Michigan and Florida, whose results were voided after the states violated party rules by moving their contests to January.

Obama is expected to secure the majority of pledged delegates Tuesday after primaries in Kentucky and Oregon.

For her part, Solis Doyle said in an interview that her status has not changed.

"I'm for Hillary, I have been for 17 years. This thing isn't over," Solis Doyle said. "But I'm a Democrat and if Obama's the nominee, I will do whatever I can to get him elected and make sure the party is unified."