Hillary to formally quit Presidential race on weekend

Washington, Jun 5: Senator Hillary Clinton, who failed to win Democratic Party's Presidential nomination after a 17-month long grueling campaign, will formally quit the race on the weekend and concede to his rival and fellow lawmaker Barack Ombama.

Obama, the only black in the 100-member US Senate, secured the Party ticket on Tuesday night to become the first African-American candidate for a major political party in the United States. Hillary Clinton told fellow Democrats during a private conference call yesterday that she would pledge support for Obama's candidacy and congratulate him for mustering the required number of delegates to win the party nomination. She proposed to hold a meeting of her supporters here on Saturday to thank them and express support for Obama, according to her aides.

Obama (46), the son of a black Kenyan father and white American mother, will be formally nominated at the party's convention in Denver in August and will face 71-year-old veteran Republican Senator McCain in the November general election.

Hillary Clinton, the two-term Senator from New York, initially led in primary contest. But, the former first lady ultimately lost to a comparatively newcomer who symbolised the strong desire for a change in the leadership in the Democratic Party.

UNI