Leahy to Clinton: You're Out

Continued sniping with Hillary Clinton is hurting Barack Obama's chances of winning the White House, and "she ought to withdraw and she ought to be backing Senator Obama," Sen. Pat Leahy told Vermont Public Radio in an interview aired today. The harsh assessment coincided with a suggestion from another influential Vermonter, DNC chairman Howard Dean, that the superdelegates make their plans public by July 1.

“John McCain, who has been making one gaffe after another, is getting a free ride” while the Democratic race continues, said Leahy, an Obama superdelegate. Dean appealed for party unity: "Somebody's going to lose this race with 49.8% of the vote," he told CBS. "And that person has got to pull their supporters in behind the nominee." (More Hillary Clinton stories.)