Barack Obama turned in earnest to the general election and the hunt for a running mate Wednesday, embraced by US Democratic leaders who signaled forcefully and sometimes impatiently to Hillary Rodham Clinton that her marathon duel with Obama was over. Clinton kept her silence in public, while supporters made a case for her as Obama's No. 2.

Obama himself moved to link himself more closely with a young Democratic hero of a half-century ago, picking US President Kennedy's daughter Caroline to help him choose a vice president.

While Clinton still wasn't conceding, even after Tuesday's primaries and a flood of "superdelegate" endorsements of Obama sealed the nomination, there were signs aplenty that she was closing shop. She began bidding campaign staff members farewell, and a number were told not to come to work after Friday. Last paychecks were expected to go out June 15.

In this file photo from Wednesday, January 30, 2008, US emocratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, right, stands with Democratic Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as he holds a 'Stand for Change' rally at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. Democratic rising stars, Arizona Gov. Napolitano and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, have been mentioned as two potential running mates who could help Barack Obama woo female voters. [Agencies]