Dawn Crawford vs San Bernardino's Dirty County Politicians and  Officials

This article was reported by Adam Nagourney, Patrick Healy and Jeff Zeleny and written by Mr. Nagourney.

 

A New Endorsement for Obama

  Surprise Backing From Senator Reflected Frustration and Desire for Healing Times Topics: Bob Casey Jr.

 

Richard Perry/The New York Times

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton campaigning on Friday at Mishawaka High School in Mishawaka, Ind. The primary in that state will be held May 6, two weeks after the one in Pennsylvania.

Compounding the challenge, one of Mr. Obama’s most prominent supporters, Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, said Mrs. Clinton should quit the race because she hurt Mr. Obama “more than anything John McCain has said.”

The Clinton campaign showed resolve in the face of the developments, rallying supporters and donors and enlisting prominent surrogates to fight back. Mrs. Clinton told aides that she would not be “bullied out” of the race.

In a conversation with two Democratic allies, she compared the situation to the “big boys” trying to bully a woman, according to interviews with them.

On the campaign trail, Mrs. Clinton said she was in the contest to stay.

“I believe that a spirited contest is good for the Democratic Party,” Mrs. Clinton said in a late-afternoon news conference in northwestern Indiana, a few miles from Mr. Obama’s house on the South Side of Chicago. “We will have a united party behind whoever that nominee is.”

The developments, including the endorsement of Mr. Obama by Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, a state where Mrs. Clinton is looking for a large primary victory, occurred as uneasiness grew among Democrats over a race that has become closer, more extended and more bitter than expected. In interviews, Democratic leaders said they were concerned that the increased tensions between the campaigns and the sharpening exchanges between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama were hurting the party’s chances of winning the White House in November.

Even though Mrs. Clinton’s supporters acknowledge that she faces a decidedly uphill battle against Mr. Obama — he leads in delegates and in total votes — there is no sign that party leaders will try to end the race by urging Mrs. Clinton to withdraw or urging uncommitted delegates to rally around Mr. Obama.

Mrs. Clinton’s aides said they could see no circumstance in which she would withdraw unless she lost Pennsylvania on April 22. Two senior advisers and one close ally said they would urge her to quit the race if she lost Indiana two weeks later, on May 6.

In a sign of the forces roiling the battle, Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee who has kept a markedly low profile in the contest, urged both campaigns to ratchet down the rhetoric.

While not assigning blame, Mr. Dean said some attacks by the candidates’ supporters and surrogates would complicate efforts to unify the party after it had a nominee.

“The tone has changed in the last three or four weeks,” he said in an interview. “And the emotional content has increased to the point where it is in some cases unhealthy.

“If we have an ugly, divided convention, we will lose,” he said. “John McCain is not a strong candidate for president. The only way we lose is if we are divided.”

Mr. Dean said he wanted the contest settled well before the convention at the end of August. He urged the superdelegates, uncommitted party leaders and elected officials, to unify behind a candidate soon after the last nominating contests on June 3.

“I don’t think superdelegates should be waiting for the convention,” he said. “There’s no reason they can’t make up their mind now or in the last several weeks. Ideally, it would be good to know who the nominee is by July 1.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, citing similar concerns about the fall campaign, said in an interview that she hoped the nominating fight ended even earlier.

“I hope that it will be resolved sooner than June, so we can get behind one candidate,” she said.

Ms. Pelosi, who has not endorsed any candidate, said that she did not agree with Mr. Leahy’s call for Mrs. Clinton to end her candidacy and that she did not intend to intervene.

Senator Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada and the majority leader, said in an interview that Democrats fretting over divisions in the party “need to relax and cool it a little bit.” Mr. Reid said he had recently had separate conversations with Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Dean and former Vice President Al Gore and was confident that the nominating fight would end naturally. The next contest is in Pennsylvania,where polls suggest that Mrs. Clinton is in a strong position, and her aides are confident of a sizable victory there, even after Mr. Casey’s endorsement of Mr. Obama.

Some of her associates said Indiana was now a must-win state for her. A defeat there would make it even more mathematically improbable that she would win the nomination and undercut any boost she might achieve from a victory in Pennsylvania.