Washington: Senator Barack Obama said on Thursday that he had written a personal cheque of $2,300 to Sen Hillary Clinton, a goodwill gesture intended to nudge his top donors to help ease Clinton's campaign debt and help the two Democrats move beyond their rivalry to focus on the fall contest.

In a ballroom at the Mayflower Hotel here, Clinton introduced Obama to about 300 of her leading contributors, most of whom raised at least $100,000 (Dh367,000) for her campaign. It was the first time the senators shared a stage since she suspended her candidacy and endorsed him nearly three weeks ago.

"I wrote my cheque to the Hillary for President Committee," said Obama, who was greeted with booming applause.

His wife, Michelle, also contributed $2,300. "I recognise that this room shares the same passion that a roomful of my supporters would show," Obama added.

"I do not expect that passion to be transferred. Sen Clinton is unique, and your relationships with her are unique. Sen Clinton and I at our core agree deeply that this country needs to change."

The gathering came on the eve of another joint appearance for Obama and Clinton, to take place in the small town of Unity, New Hampshire. They will appear before television cameras in a carefully crafted rollout of their newfound partnership.

Clinton has vowed to help Obama defeat Sen John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.

"Time is always a great healer," Vernon Jordan, a longtime friend of Clinton and her husband, said in an interview as he left Thursday's event, which he described as a cordial affair. "There's only one issue: winning."

Obama and Clinton arrived separately and entered through a side door of the hotel, a few blocks from the White House, bypassing a half-dozen demonstrators who held signs urging Obama to consider Clinton as his running mate and to help retire her campaign debt. His top political advisers were on hand, mingling with Clinton's contributors.

Clinton asked for nothing from her former rival and pledged her full support.

"We have to make it a priority in our lives to elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States," Clinton said to sustained applause. She added, "I know my supporters have extremely strong feelings, and I know Barack's do as well, but we are a family, and we have an opportunity now to really demonstrate clearly we do know what's at stake, and we will do whatever it takes to win back this White House."

Terry McAuliffe, the campaign chairman for Clinton, said it was time to get her contributors "fired up for the general election." As McAuliffe walked through the hotel's stately lobby, he was greeted by several Clinton supporters who embraced him and spoke longingly about Clinton's candidacy.

"This is unity; bringing together these folks is a good piece of that," McAuliffe said. "It was a great race. She got 18 million votes, and she realizes what was accomplished. No one likes to lose, but you know what? She's moved on."

Meanwhile, Obama and Clinton were later yesterday expected to stand shoulder to shoulder and rally the Democratic Party around his bid to eject the Republicans from the White House, reports AFP. The two former rivals were flying together to a New Hampshire hamlet, aptly named Unity, for their first joint campaign appearance since Obama beat Clinton to the Democratic nomination in early June.

They each won 107 votes here in the New Hampshire primary in January, which came after Obama, 46, dealt his first blow to the former first lady's presidential hopes in the Iowa caucuses.

The two senators were to hold a "Unite for Change" rally at a school in Unity's rolling, verdant hills to press the party to come together after the divisive primaries.

Low profile

The former first lady, 60, has kept a low profile since conceding the Democratic nominating contest to Obama on June 7, after a bitter campaign that split Democratic loyalties down the middle.

But now the battle is on to repair the wounds and pull the party together for what is set to be a bruising campaign against the Republicans and their standard-bearer John McCain in the November 4 election.

The wounds have not entirely healed. One attendee at Thursday evening's gathering told ABC that despite the warm words from Obama and Clinton, the event "was like a dentist's appointment."

Clinton's husband, former president Bill Clinton, has given only tepid backing to Obama, and one of the questions going forward is what role the Democratic first couple will take in his campaign against McCain.

Arizona Senator McCain, 71, is playing spoiler here by announcing a new group called "New Hampshire Democrats for McCain", led by two state party luminaries who say Obama is too inexperienced to be commander-in-chief.

The ultimate gesture of reconciliation would be for Obama to select Clinton as his running mate.

But despite a groundswell of support among her supporters for an Obama-Clinton ticket, she has said the decision is for Obama alone.

The New York senator meanwhile has her huge debts to pay off. Half of them were lent by Clinton herself from her ample family funds, and she says she needs to pay off her bills by the Democratic convention in late August.

Obama's finance committee chairwoman Penny Pritzker also wrote out a personal check of $4,600 to Clinton from her and her husband on Thursday. "We're helping. It's important," the billionaire said.

By Jeff Zeleny, The New York Times Service

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