Obama, Clinton continue to promote a united party

Both sidestepped questions about Clinton’s name’s being placed in nomination.

CHICAGO (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Thursday dismissed suggestions that the nominating convention could be marred by tensions between his supporters and the die-hard backers of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Obama told reporters that their staffs were working out mutually agreeable convention logistics. At the same time, Clinton was assuring her supporters in an online chat that she and Obama were “working together to make sure it’s a big success.”

Neither directly answered questions about whether Clinton’s name should be placed in nomination so that her backers could record their votes.

Obama clinched the nomination after a sometimes bitter primary contest with Clinton. Amid reports that some Clinton backers hope to raise her profile at the convention or even continue to push her candidacy, Clinton and Obama were publicly trying to ease the strained relations that exist between some of their supporters.

Flying home to Chicago, Obama told reporters on his campaign plane that he talked separately this week to Clinton and her husband, the former president, and that they were enthusiastic about having a smooth convention at the end of the month in Denver.

“As is true in all conventions, we’re still working out the mechanics, the coordination,” Obama said. One such issue is whether there will be a convention roll call on Clinton’s nomination, he said.

“I’m letting our respective teams work out details,” he said. Asked if that meant he wouldn’t object to her name being placed in nomination and a vote taken, Obama said: “I didn’t say that. I said that they’re working it out.”

Clinton has not said whether she will seek a formal vote on her bid for the nomination. For the online chat on her Web site, she wrote that she and Obama will ensure Democrats are “fully unified.”

Clinton was expected to deliver a prime-time address to delegates Aug. 26, the second night of the convention. With the delegate roll call planned for the next evening, Obama was set to accept the nomination with a speech on its fourth and final night.

“We will ensure that the voices of everyone who participated in this historic process are respected and our party is fully unified heading into the November election,” Clinton wrote. “While no decisions have been made yet, I will make sure that we keep you up to date and involved with all of the convention activity.”