Democrat Hillary Clinton is today planning for her endorsement of US presidential campaign rival Barack Obama, which party strategists say needs to be convincing to avoid a rift.
Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama held a private one-on-one meeting last night at the Washington home of California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, and neither side was giving details of the discussion.
The New York senator is to formally withdraw from the race on Saturday in Washington and throw her support behind Mr Obama, ending her once high-flying campaign to get back into the White House after spending eight years there as first lady to Bill Clinton.
Mr Obama clinched the party's nomination on Tuesday when he secured the required number of delegates to the party's August convention.
The extent of Clinton's endorsement will be of keen interest to the Obama camp.
Her speech on Tuesday after the South Dakota and Montana primaries - the last in five months of state-by-state nominating contests - had raised eyebrows because she refused to concede immediately. Critics said she sounded like a sore loser.
The two candidates now are engaged in a delicate, behind-the-scenes dance. Mrs Clinton has said she is open to the vice presidency slot but insists she is not seeking the job.
After defeating her in a grueling 16-month nomination battle, Mr Obama needs her full endorsement to try to sway her supporters to back him in what could be a competitive race to the November election against Republican John McCain.
Mrs Clinton, frustrated by her loss and in need of some time out after the long campaign, needs Mr Obama's help to retire her mounting campaign debt, however.
But the Obama campaign today sought to dispel any talk that there would be a decision soon on who Mr Obama would pick as his running mate.
"It's important that this be done in a careful, methodical way. We're not going to be rushed into making any pick, whomever that might be," Obama's communications director, Robert Gibbs, told MSNBC.