Growing chorus of Obama supporters claim battle for nomination is finished

Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) has gained new supporters in recent days, and they have a growing refrain — the Democratic nomination battle is over and it’s time for party unity.

Roy Romer, a former governor of Colorado and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), said Tuesday that there is no way Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) can win the nomination. He said he was declaring his support for the Illinois senator as a way of letting her know that.

{mosads}“The math is controlling. This race, I believe, is over,” Romer said on a conference call arranged by the Obama campaign. He added: “I think [the Clinton campaign] needs to know where I am as a superdelegate.”

Romer and others say the longer Clinton stays in the race, the better off presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) will fare in the fall.

Clinton, however, has said she has no intention of quitting and, just last week, her senior advisers said they think the race could go well past the last primary contests on June 3.

But Clinton’s pledge to keep going hasn’t stopped the trickle of uncommitted superdelegates who have come out in favor of Obama, and they are being increasingly vocal in stating their belief that Clinton has no chance of winning.

At the core of Romer’s and other Democrats’ concerns is the fear that the continued battle could irreparably divide the party, with supporters of the losing candidate unwilling to back the nominee.

That said, they have for the most part stopped short of suggesting that Clinton drop out of the race.

Anna Burger, the secretary-treasurer for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which is supporting Obama, said on a conference call Tuesday that “the reality is it really is over,” but likewise wouldn’t say if Clinton should drop out.

“That isn’t my call,” Burger said. “That is her call.”

But the case Obama supporters are making is complicated by Clinton’s strength with blue-collar white voters, a demographic that will likely be well-represented in the West Virginia and Kentucky primaries (West Virginia’s results were not known by press time).

Ahead of the West Virginia primary, Obama and Clinton took time away from the campaign trail Tuesday to cast a series of votes on energy issues, a flood insurance bill and a measure to provide collective bargaining rights for public safety officers.

Clinton, entering first, took no questions but did return a yell from a crowd of tourists, one of whom shouted, “Go Wellesley!”

“That’s right, go Wellesley!” Clinton responded.

Obama entered a few moments later and faced yet another question about whether it was time for the party to unify behind him as its presidential nominee and shun Clinton.

“Well, it’s just time to unify the party,” he said.

The two candidates spent an hour on the Senate floor and only interacted briefly.

“How are you?” Obama said as he approached Clinton on the floor, with Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) nearby.

Salazar said later he told them both that he “loved them.”

The two spent time talking with undeclared superdelegates as well as members of the Michigan and Florida delegations who are trying to reach an agreement with the candidates on getting their delegations seated at the party’s nominating convention.

Michigan Sen. Carl Levin (D) said he spoke with “both of our candidates, and discussed the Michigan position” in order to “make sure they are aware of the executive committee that contains obviously supporters of both [and] has overwhelmingly voted to support our recommendations … I urged them both to support it, of course.” He said: “They’ll make their own positions clear on it.”

After he voted, Obama met with his staff, then left for Missouri. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said she expected to spend the rest of Tuesday traveling with Obama, whom she has endorsed.

Recent internal campaign memos obtained by The Hill show that the Obama camp is sensitive about appearing as though it is pressuring Clinton to withdraw.

Two of the memos from the Obama camp contain mock question-and-answer sessions dealing with queries about whether Clinton should stay in the race. One memo The Hill obtained Monday night dealt with Obama’s shift to general-election mode as evidenced by his scheduled trips to Missouri, Michigan and Florida.

“Q: Aren’t you just ignoring Hillary Clinton? Last time I checked, she was about to pull out big wins in two states. It seems premature to begin general election campaigning,” the memo asks.

“A: He’s got to do both. With the general election now less than six months away, Sen. Obama believes that we have to start engaging voters in battleground states, in addition to continuing to campaign in the remaining primary states.”

To that end, the memo also took care to remind surrogates that if asked, they should reject any notion that Obama is “trying to make a point or send a message to Sen. Clinton that she should get out of the race.”

“No, he isn’t,” the memo reads. “This isn’t about posturing or signals. It’s about talking to voters about the choice they’re going to face in November: fundamental change, or four more years of failed Bush policies? It’s that simple.”

Manu Raju and J. Taylor Rushing contributed to this report.