In a sign of growing anxiety over the Democrats' bitter nominating fight, a senior senator urged Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday to abandon her presidential bid and cede the race to rival Barack Obama. Clinton rejected the notion.
The recommendation from Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont that Clinton drop out came as Obama picked up support from another senator, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, the state holding the next primary, on April 22.
Separately, Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean signaled his concern over the tenor of the race by urging Obama and Clinton to scale back their rhetorical assaults, saying they risk undermining the effort to beat Republican John McCain in November.
Dean also urged undecided superdelegates -- the party and elected officials who are likely to decide the nomination -- to pick a candidate by July 1 to avoid an irreparable rift at the party's August convention.
"Let the media and the Republicans and the talking heads on cable television attack and carry on, fulminate at the mouth," Dean told the Associated Press. "The supporters should keep their mouths shut about this stuff on both sides because that is harmful to the potential victory of a Democrat."
New York Sen. Clinton faces long odds in overcoming Obama's lead in the race for elected delegates and trails the Illinois senator in the popular vote.
But polls show her comfortably ahead in Pennsylvania, and Clinton has suggested a willingness to fight on to August. "A spirited contest is good for the Democratic Party and will strengthen our eventual nominee," Clinton said while campaigning Friday in Indiana, which votes May 6.
In speaking out on behalf of Obama, Leahy -- and to a lesser extent Sen. Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut -- gave voice to a sentiment that many Democrats have been whispering with increased urgency over the last several days: a fear that the prolonged battle for the nomination -- which once seemed to energize the party -- may have begun to do more harm than good.
McCain has been making mistakes, Leahy said Friday in a written statement, but is "getting a free ride on those gaffes, because the Democratic candidates have to focus not on him but on each other."
"Sen. Clinton has every right, but not a very good reason, to remain a candidate for as long as she wants to," he said. "As far as the delegate count and the interests of a Democratic victory in November go, there is not a very good reason for drawing this out."
