The race for the White House could take a new direction later today, if Hilary Clinton officially suspends her presidential campaign.

US PRESIDENTIAL contender Barack Obama needs Senator Hillary Clinton in some capacity, his former Irish-born foreign policy adviser said yesterday.

Hillary Clinton and presumptive presidential nominee Barack Obama have met privately to talk about uniting the Democratic Party, an Obama spokesman said.

Barack Obama won the support of some of the biggest backers of his former rival Hillary Clinton today as she finally signalled that the end of her bid for the Democratic nomination was near.

Hillary Clinton is ending her historic bid to become the first female president and will back rival Barack Obama on Saturday, capping a 17-month quest that began with the words “I’m in it to win it” with a more humble plea for party unity.

Voters in the final two US states of the primary season were going to the polls today as Barack Obama prepared to become the first black presidential nominee of a major US party.

US presidential hopeful Barack Obama returned to the campaign trail today after a brief break to switch his focus to the expected presidential contest against Republican John McCain.

Democratic rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton turned up the rhetoric in their increasingly heated presidential primary battle.

Democratic White House hopeful Hillary Clinton’s pollster and senior strategist has left her campaign after it was disclosed he met representatives of the Colombian government to help promote a free trade agreement his boss opposes.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton compared herself to under-dog boxer Rocky Balboa today as she continued to insist she will be staying in the close race for her party’s nomination.

Hillary Clinton, who has feasted on adversity in the Democratic presidential primaries, is rejecting calls from some key Barack Obama supporters to drop out of the race for the good of the party.

Hillary Clinton said today she will not end her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination until the last primary votes are counted.

Barack Obama refused to go along with other Democrats who are calling for Hillary Clinton to step away from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The Democratic presidential nominee ought to be decided by July 1 in order to avoid bitter in-fighting, the party’s national committee chairman said today.

America should not assume it can do whatever it wants and should instead live up to its duties as a world leader, Republican presidential candidate John McCain said today.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has declared she is “only human” and “misspoke” after she was accused of overstating her foreign policy experience on the campaign trail.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain called on US banks today to help their customers in the same way as they have been helped by the US government.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign said she “misspoke” last week when saying she had landed under sniper fire during a trip to Bosnia as first lady in March 1996 - the candidate herself described the episode as a “misstatement” and a “minor blip”.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton addressed America’s troubled economy and called for “bold action” to halt the US housing crisis today.

Bill Clinton’s decision to pull out of a Belfast conference marking the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement is a vote of no confidence in it, a leading unionist claimed today.

Hillary Clinton was home in the White House on at least seven days when her husband had sexual encounters there with intern Monica Lewinsky, according to newly released files.

Barack Obama won the Mississippi primary election as he put his campaign back on track for the Democratic presidential nomination today.

YOU can have too much of a good thing. All those debates, all those ordinary citizens actively participating in the democratic process: who couldn’t have be energised by the hard fought US Presidential battle? I’m fast becoming disillusioned.

Barack Obama’s campaign apologised to Hillary Clinton today after one of his key foreign policy aides branded the former first lady a desperate “monster”.

Barack Obama blamed fierce attacks by rival Hillary Clinton for his defeats in big Democratic primaries, and quickly made good on a promise to sharpen his criticism of her in what promised to be a drawn-out White House brawl.

Barack Obama accused rival Hillary Clinton of trying to “scare up votes” with a new ad as the former first lady struggled to halt her opponent’s sprint to the Democratic White House nomination ahead of key contests next week.

Hillary Clinton adopted a sharper tone as she came face-to-face with Barack Obama in a bid to revive her ailing campaign for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, but never achieved a “knockout blow”, US political pundits said today.

Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama clashed over negative campaign tactics, the Iraq war, and trade in their last debate before crucial primary elections next week.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama looked set to engage in a heated debate tonight as the former First Lady tried to get her presidential campaign back on track.

Barack Obama would need a “foreign policy instruction manual” to keep the US safe, Hillary Clinton suggested today.

An American Archbishop has objected to a primary election campaign appearance by Hillary Clinton at a Roman Catholic university because of her voting record on abortion.

THE man who served as national manager of former President Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign endorsed Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday.

NIALL O’DOWD, when ‘reporting’ Hillary Clinton’s victory in the Massachusetts Democratic primary (February 10), grossly exaggerated the weight of it.

Barack Obama has won the Maine caucuses today to sweep all five weekend Democratic contests, gaining new momentum and further narrowing rival Hillary Clinton's delegate lead in their epic battle for the party's presidential nomination.

John McCain effectively sealed the Republican presidential nomination tonight as chief rival Mitt Romney suspended his faltering campaign.

TURNOUT was high as New Yorkers kicked off before dawn the 24-state primary bonanza which rippled across the US before the last polls closed in California at 4am Irish time and in Alaska at 5am.

The two Democratic contenders for the party’s presidential nomination will split the vote and Super Tuesday’s results will be inconclusive, Barack Obama said today.

Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama accused each other of repeatedly and deliberately distorting the truth for political gain early today.

Barack Obama is stepping up his effort to correct the misconception that he is a Muslim now that the US presidential campaign has hit the Christian Bible Belt in the south of the country.

BARACK Obama, the Democratic frontrunner told an overflow crowd: “You’re the wave and I’m riding it.”

A Los Angeles appeals court denied a bid to reinstate Senator Hillary Clinton as a defendant in a lawsuit that claims she, her husband, ex-US president Bill Clinton, and others induced a former supporter to finance a 2000 fund-raising gala.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will present the traditional bowl of shamrock to US president George Bush in the White House on Friday.

US presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have crossed campaign paths for the first time today.

The rival US presidential campaigns of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama traded accusations of nasty politics over Hollywood donor David Geffen, who once backed former president Bill Clinton but now supports his wife’s top rival.