US Elections:FORMER DEMOCRATIC presidential candidate John Edwards has backed away from his statement earlier this month that he would not agree to be Barack Obama's running mate, saying yesterday that he would consider the vice-presidential slot if it was offered to him.
"I'd take anything he asked me to think about seriously, but obviously this is something I've done and it's not a job that I'm seeking," Mr Edwards told ABC News.
A few weeks ago, the former North Carolina senator told a Spanish newspaper that he would not accept the vice-presidential nomination. "I already had the privilege of running for vice-president in 2004, and I won't do it again."
Mr Edwards said yesterday that he had not meant to rule out the option entirely but wanted to allow Mr Obama to choose his running mate without outside pressure.
"I intended it to say that this is not a thing that I'm seeking. I think Senator Obama, first of all, has earned the right to make this decision for himself. I think he has enormous choices available to him, really great choices available to him. And I think he'll go through this process in a thoughtful, orderly way, and he'll decide who he wants to be his running mate," he said.
Former Virginia governor Mark Warner this weekend took himself out of the running as a potential vice-presidential candidate, telling his state's Democratic convention that he will turn down a place on the Democratic ticket if Mr Obama offers it to him. Mr Warner said he is entirely focused on winning a second Senate seat for Democrats in Virginia in November.
"Let me be clear about this: I have been working very hard these last few months to ask the people of Virginia to give me the honour of being their United States senator. I will not seek, and I will not accept, any other opportunity," Mr Warner said.
In a "virtual town hall" meeting with independent voters on Saturday, Republican John McCain sought to persuade former supporters of Hillary Clinton to back him. He praised Mrs Clinton as "a role model and a motivator" and praised her record of working with Republicans in the Senate to achieve common legislative goals.
"I congratulate her on her campaign, and I know she will continue to play a key role in the future of this nation," he said.
Debra Bartoshevich, a former Clinton supporter and a Wisconsin delegate to the Democratic national convention, said on Saturday that she would support Mr McCain.
"I will not be voting for Obama. I will cast my vote for John McCain. I just feel you need to have somebody who has experience with foreign matters," she said.
Mr McCain's campaign has released a list of prominent Democrats and independents who have joined "Citizens for McCain", a new group led by independent Democratic senator Joe Lieberman, who is backing the Republican.
"Citizens for McCain is an organisation within the McCain campaign for people who put country before political party and support the presidential candidate who has a proven record of bipartisanship," Mr Lieberman said.