By Caren Bohan
BRISTOW, Virginia (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton distancedherself on Thursday from a push to convince former Democraticrival Barack Obama to choose her as his running mate and saidthe decision on a vice president was his alone to make.
As Obama enjoyed his first campaign swing as the likelyDemocratic presidential nominee, some prominent supporters ofClinton have launched an effort to pressure him to invite herto join his ticket as the No. 2 in the general election battleagainst Republican John McCain.
U.S. media reported that Obama and Clinton were meeting onThursday night at Clinton's home in Washington. There were nodetails on what they were discussing.
Critics of Clinton have accused her of trying to force herway on to the ticket. An aide to the New York senator issued astatement trying to dispel that impression.
"While Sen. Clinton has made clear throughout this processthat she will do whatever she can to elect a Democrat to theWhite House, she is not seeking the vice presidency, and no onespeaks for her but her," said spokesman Phil Singer. "Thechoice here is Senator Obama's and his alone."
Backers of an Obama-Clinton ticket believe it would be thebest way to unify the Democratic Party after the hard-fought,16-month race between the candidates.
Obama made history on Tuesday when he became the firstblack to win a U.S. major-party presidential nomination.Clinton would have been the first woman to do so.
The former first lady did not immediately concede the racebut told supporters in a letter on Wednesday she would hold anevent on Saturday where she would formally back Obama.
Obama has not tipped his hand about whom he might pick ashis running mate and when asked publicly about the option ofchoosing Clinton, he has praised her but emphasized hisselection process would be deliberative and wide-ranging.
Clinton was seen as having promoted the idea of herbecoming the vice presidential nominee when she told supportersin a conference call on Tuesday that she would be "open" to itif it would help her party win the White House.
Obama told reporters he appreciated the statement fromClinton's aide deferring to him on the running mate choice.
The Illinois senator noted Clinton had been involved in theselection process before when her husband, former PresidentBill Clinton, chose Al Gore as his running mate in 1992.
"We are going to be equally deliberative in how we moveforward," Obama said as he travelled in Virginia, which isexpected to be a battleground state in the campaign for theNovember general election.
POTENTIAL VP PICK WEBB APPEARS WITH OBAMA
Obama has made clear he wants to maintain the utmostsecrecy around his vice presidential deliberations until he isready to make an announcement.
That did not stop him from sharing the media spotlight withsomeone cited frequently by pundits as a potential runningmate: Virginia Sen. Jim Webb.
Webb, who had remained neutral as Obama and Clinton battledfor the nomination, gave the Illinois senator an emphaticendorsement as he introduced him at a rally of 10,000 people innorthern Virginia.
He referred to the ups and downs Obama faced in the longfight to secure the nomination. In the final few months of therace, Obama was battling daily attacks from both Clinton andMcCain.
"I'm honoured to stand alongside this man, a man of greatintellect who over the past 16 months has impressed all of usas he stood up to sometimes withering attacks with measuredresponses, unshakable composure," Webb said.
The decorated Marine veteran of the Vietnam War said Obama"has given all of us confidence in the steadiness that we wantto see in a commander in chief."
Obama used his Virginia speech to look ahead to theNovember race against McCain. He said he hoped they could havea respectful debate about policy issues and keep the campaignfrom getting bogged down by "name-calling" and"scandal-mongering."
The Illinois senator told McCain of that wish when thepresumptive Republican nominee called Obama to congratulate himon Wednesday.
"I said that I was looking forward to a civil, substantivedebate on the issues. And he agreed," Obama said, adding theydiscussed McCain's idea of appearing jointly at town-hall styleforums. Obama's campaign has said it is open to such formatsand the two camps are exchanging views on options.
But Obama did not hold back from attacking McCain. At anevent in southwestern Virginia earlier in the day, Obamalikened his Republican rival's health care proposals to thoseof the unpopular President George W. Bush. He said McCain'sideas amounted to "Bush light."
McCain's campaign hit back, deriding Obama's attempts tocast himself as someone who could rise above party divisions.
"Barack Obama has no record of bipartisan success," saidMcCain spokesman Tucker Bounds, adding Obama had voted "inlock-step with his party on issues from tax relief to fundingof the Iraq war.
(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Donna Smith; Editingby Peter Cooney)
(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visitReuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online athttp://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)
