New York: Apparently tired of bickering between presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, Democratic Party leaders are likely to pressurise the former US first lady to withdraw if she performs badly in the crucial Pennsylvania primary on Tuesday, analysts say.

However, should she decide to continue to fight until the party convention on August 24 in Denver, the party can do little about it.

But with several party leaders asserting that the vicious campaign is doing damage to the ability of the Democratic party to take on Republican candidate John McCain, pressure is likely to mount on super delegates elected officials to declare their preference so that the candidate with lesser numbers could be persuaded to withdraw.

In the debate in Philadelphia earlier this week, both candidates had said that their fight would not affect the Democratic Party's ability to defeat McCain and that they would get united once the nominee is chosen.

But the party bosses do not think so. They say if the fight continues until August, the party would lose three crucial months of campaigning apart from the fact that the Republicans would give ammunition to damage whichever candidate is nominated.

Party Chairman Howard Dean, media reports say, has been urging the super delegates to make up their mind early as there is no chance of either candidate getting enough pledged delegates. The super delegates are not committed to anyone and decide on their own.

Meanwhile, Clinton slightly shifted the line of attack on Obama, challenging his ability to manage the country when he is complaining about tough questioning during the debate in which his performance, all analysts agree, was below par.

Source : PTI