Obama: Don't worry, Dems will reunite

2008 RACE | Divided Dems will reunite by November, he says

NEW ALBANY, Ind. -- The day after Hillary Clinton drubbed him by nearly 10 percentage points in Pennsylvania, Barack Obama sought to assure supporters Wednesday that the party would survive the fractious Democratic presidential primary.

"Don't worry about the party being divided in November," Obama told 2,500 fans at Indiana University Southeast. "The Democratic Party is going to recognize as soon as we have a nominee that there is too much at stake for us to be divided."

But the Illinois senator acknowledged "there has been some time lost" that could have been spent focusing on Republican John McCain, adding "and that is why we would like to wrap up this campaign as quickly as possible."

Both of the Democratic White House hopefuls spent time Wednesday in the next big battleground: Indiana.

"I'm going to be here for the next two weeks doing everything I can to help as many Hoosiers understand that I will be there for you, and you can count on me, that I will fight for you," Clinton told supporters in Indianapolis. "This campaign for me in Indiana is about jobs, jobs, jobs and jobs."

Clinton is hoping the same winning formula she used in Ohio and Pennsylvania, preaching public works projects and economic revival to blue-collar workers, will help her here on May 6.

But Obama said the game plan that he has used in other Illinois neighbor states -- Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin -- should help put him over the top.

Indiana has fewer delegates than North Carolina, which also votes on May 6, but polls show Obama way ahead in North Carolina while it's still close in Indiana. That means this state, which has not voted for a Democratic president since 1964, will see a lot of both Democrats for the next two weeks.

Clinton has the support of popular Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, who hopes she'll be able to put the state in the Democratic column in November if she's the nominee.

Obama's campaign manager said that even though Clinton's Pennsylvania win garnered her some headlines, it will give her only about 10 more Pennsylvania delegates to the Democratic National Convention than Obama, whom she still trails by more than 150.

Obama noted that older voters used to voting for Clinton's husband for president showed a lot of loyalty to her. Indiana is a younger state than Pennsylvania.

"The problem is that -- to the extent there is a problem -- is that the older voters are very loyal to Sen. Clinton," Obama said. "We've won more delegates, we've won more states and we've won more votes."

But large sections of rural areas resemble the rural counties of Pennsylvania that voted 75 percent for Clinton.

Clinton's appeals to fans to send her cash-strapped campaign money after her Pennsylvania win appear to be working, with her campaign boasting it was on course to take in $10 million in 24 hours.

Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe quipped that Clinton's unpaid vendors would be happy to finally get their bills paid.