As the hotly contested race for United States presidential nomination stretches, prominent Democrats have said that Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton running together in the November polls is not only a 'dream ticket' but a rare opportunity for the country.
Governor of Pennsylvania Ed Rendell, who is a strong supporter of Clinton, also brushed aside the argument that Senator Obama winning in Republican states that Democrats are not going to carry on November 4 should be factored in by delegates and super delegates at the time of picking the nominee of the Party to take on the Republicans.
"I think it would be a dream to Democrats all over this country. Personally, for me, it would be a great ticket. I mean, I'm going to fight hard for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, whoever the candidate is. But put them together, and I think it would give America a rare opportunity to experience something just incredibly wonderful," Rendell said on Meet The Press.
But another prominent Democrat and former Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who is backing Obama in the democratic primaries, argued the Illinois Senator has no interest in being the 'Number Two' in the ticket and rejected as 'specious' the argument that since Senator Clinton had more experience, she should be the leading the way.
"It's really a rare occurrence, may be the first time in history, that the person who's running number two would offer the person who's running number one, the number two position. What Barack has said is that's way premature. He doesn't have any interest in being vice president. He's going to be our presidential nominee," Daschle said.
"Hillary Clinton was a great first lady. I worked with her. I know what a good first lady she was. But it would be hard for me to draw some degree of connection between being a first lady and having experience to be the commander in chief," Daschle said.
"The fact is, both of them are qualified. They're good candidates. They both would make great leaders. I do believe that Barack offers a lot more in the capacity of leadership. But I don't think anyone can look at her experience as first lady and say, for some reason, that qualifies her to run for president of the United States," Daschle said, going on to make the point that Senator Obama will consider Senator Clinton to be his running mate.
"The bottom line is, he wants the strongest person, the person who can serve in the capacity of president should he not be around. She's certainly in that category, but probably a lot of others as well," he said.
But Democrats like Rendell and other supporters of Senator Clinton have argued that Senator Obama's winning smaller and traditionally Republican states at the current primaries does not make him a strong candidate for the fall showdown. Rather the focus should be on the electoral college count which would mean having to win the big ticket states.
"We've got to get the strongest candidate. And if she wins Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida, on top of all the other big states she won; if she wins the key states that are going to decide the election, let's go with our strongest hand, because the issues are too important to risk losing," Rendell said.
Senator Clinton is banking on the strength and organisational capacity of Governor Rendell as she looks to the primaries in Pennsylvania on April 22, a state that will send 158 delegates to the national convention this August.
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