Obama, Clinton Rallied in Unity, Massachusetts on Purpose

By Anastacia Mott Austin

It’s not ironic. They purposely picked a city named Unity to stage a rally to bring divided Democrats on board with Barack Obama, after a sometimes bitterly divided primary season.

After all, said Clinton, they split the vote there, as in several other states. "It is not only well-named, but in the New Hampshire primary both of us received exactly 107 votes," said Clinton to reporters in Washington. "So it pretty much mirrored the rest of the campaign, where it was right down the middle."

Clinton and Obama have been playing kiss-and-make-up in the last few weeks, after Clinton finally called it a day and suspended her campaign.

In fact, the two have been urging each other’s supporters to donate to their former opponent’s cause. Clinton’s campaign is still mired in debt; some estimates say by as much as $22 million, at least half of that donated by Clinton herself. Private donors may only contribute $2,300 to a candidate, but nothing stops them from giving to more than one, so the two are legally able to share donors.

Clinton is expected to meet with her top financial backers as well, to urge them to donate to Obama’s campaign.

Once former rivals, the two both boast fiercely loyal supporters who at one point refused to support the other candidate should their own not win the nomination.

Recent polls have shown that more than half of Clinton’s supporters have vowed to support Obama. While he has a way to go to earn the rest of their votes, this poll shows better support than one taken about a month ago.

Some of the credit for that goes to Clinton. Of her supporters who have said they’d vote for McCain instead of Obama, she said, "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 Sen. Obama to be our next President."

The feelings seem to be mutual, and Obama is piling on the praise as well. "I want her campaigning as much as she can. She was a terrific campaigner," he said of his former opponent. "She I think inspired millions of people, and so she can be an extraordinarily effective surrogate for me, and the values and ideals that we share as Democrats."

The buddying up seems to have helped Obama in the polls, some of which show the Illinois senator up by as much as 15 points over McCain. Others say that the polls are not accurate, especially this early in the game.

Whether the polls are accurate or not, those watching and listening say that Clinton seems to be sincere in her comments about Obama, and all appearances suggest that she actually does want her supporters to vote for him come November.

This echoes the claim she made on the last night of her campaign as she announced the suspension of her own run for the White House, saying to supporters, "The way to continue our fight now to accomplish the goals for which we stand is to take our energy, our passion, our strength and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States."