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(CNN) — Sen. Barack Obama flatly rejected suggestions Monday he would be a vice presidential running mate for Sen. Hillary Clinton. Clinton, Obama’s rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, and her husband, former President Clinton, have suggested a joint Clinton-Obama ticket — with Obama in the second slot. President Clinton Saturday suggested a Clinton-Obama ticket would be “unstoppable.”
“He would win the urban areas and the upscale voters. She would win the rural areas that we lost when President Reagan was president,” he said while campaigning in Pass Christian, Mississippi. “If you put those two things together, you’d have an almost unstoppable force.”
Obama forcefully shot that idea down.
“Sen. Clinton is fighting hard. She’s tenacious. I respect her for that. She is working hard to win the nomination. But I want everybody to be absolutely clear. I’m not running for vice president. I’m running for president of the United States of America,” Obama told supporters during a rally in Columbus, Mississippi.
If anyone should be suggesting vice presidential candidates, it should be him, Obama said.
“With all due respect. I won twice as many states as Sen. Clinton. I’ve won more of the popular vote than Sen. Clinton. I have more delegates than Sen. Clinton. So, I don’t know how somebody who’s in second place is offering vice presidency to the person who’s in first place,” he said.
