United States Senator Hillary Clinton (2nd R) arrives at a rally with her daughter Chelsea (1st R), her mother Dorothy Rodham (2nd L) and husband, former President Bill Clinton, in Washington June 7, 2008. Hillary Clinton announced on Saturday to end her running campaign for the presidency and called on her surpporters to vote for her rival, Domocratic presidential hopeful Senator Barak Obama in the presidential election later this year. (Xinhua/Zhang Yan)

But the Clinton camp resisted the move so it could gauge what her supporters wanted and allow Clinton to bow out of the race on her own terms.

Tensions between the two camps may have also increased when some of Clinton's most prominent supporters launched a campaign Wednesday to get her on the Democratic ticket as the vice presidential nominee, arguing that it would help unify the party.

The majority of Democratic voters appear to like an Obama-Clinton ticket.

A CNN poll released Friday suggested that nearly half of Democrats, 54 percent, would support a joint ticket, but 43 percent would oppose it.

Last Thursday night, Clinton and Obama held what was apparently their first extended private conversation since the campaign began.

Taking cloak-and-dagger steps to avoid coverage by reporters, they met at the home of California Sen. Dianne Feinstein in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Washington.

Obama said he was taking the weekend off in Chicago.

Before meeting with Clinton late Thursday, he told reporters, "There will be a time and place when she and I will appear together."

Clinton hosted a thank-you reception Friday for campaign staff workers, who trouped past reporters and photographers to her home in Northwest Washington.

(Xinhua News Agency June 8, 2008)