Washington: Barack Obama has won endorsements from a former Clinton administration official and two ex-senators, boosting his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination ahead of Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary that could determine whether rival Hillary Rodham Clinton stays in the race.

The support comes as a new Associated Press-Yahoo News poll shows that Democratic voters now favour Obama over Clinton as their best chance for winning the White House.

A Newsweek poll, also released yesterday, showed Obama ahead among Democratic voters 54 per cent to 35 per cent, marking a big shift from the magazine's last survey in March when he and Clinton were virtually tied. In a blow to Clinton, Robert Reich, who served as Labour secretary under her husband, former President Bill Clinton, said in a blog post yesterday that "although Hillary Clinton has offered solid and sensible policy proposals, Obama s strike me as even more so."

He was joined by two other Democratic elder statesmen, former Sens Sam Nunn and David Boren, who will serve as advisers on Obama's National Security Foreign Policy team. Reich, joins a handful of former Clinton cabinet members, including New Mexico governor and former ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, in endorsing Obama. He is a longtime friend of the Clintons.

The poll released yesterday shows Obama's positive ratings have climbed. But the survey also found that the prolonged, and often acrimonious nomination fight with Clinton, has exacted a price on him. As they get to know him, more voters are saying he is inexperienced, unethical and dishonest.

Source : PTI