Clinton set to join Obama on the stump

Hillary Rodham Clinton will campaign with Barack Obama for the first time next week as her vast fundraising operation starts -- with some reluctance -- to mobilize behind her former rival for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The pair’s first joint appearance will come as the Illinois senator is trying to unite the party after a brutal struggle with Clinton for the nomination. Obama aides said the two would campaign together Friday, but offered no details.

“Hillary Clinton and I agree on 99% of the issues,” Obama told about 600 of his supporters at a reception Friday in Jacksonville, Fla. “We had to work to find something to disagree on.”

Tensions linger; some Clinton fundraisers have refused to collect money for Obama. But the New York senator called members of her finance committee this week and encouraged them to get involved in Obama’s campaign.

She gave her supporters the “clear understanding that she is moving on and that her priority is getting Barack elected,” said John Emerson, a former Clinton White House aide who was one of the former first lady’s top fundraisers in California.

Emerson, one of half a dozen Clinton fundraisers who met with Obama and his staff in Chicago this week, is co-sponsoring a gala for Obama on Tuesday at the Music Center in Los Angeles.

The cost of admission is a $2,300 donation to Obama’s campaign. Donors who give $28,500 to the Democratic National Committee can attend a dinner with Obama.

California has long been a cornerstone of the Clinton fundraising operation. The Los Angeles event will mark the first major effort by Obama to establish himself as the premier Democratic draw in the state.

On Wednesday, Obama invited Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis, another top Clinton fundraiser in California, to serve on his finance committee. “I agreed to help any way I can,” she said.

Clinton and Obama plan to meet Thursday with 100 of her top bundlers of campaign donations at the Mayflower hotel in Washington.

Some, however, have opted to skip the event -- among them Hollywood billionaire Haim Saban. Asked by e-mail whether he would attend, he replied tersely: “No.”

Clinton dropped out of the Democratic race two weeks ago. She endorsed Obama and pledged to do what she could to unite the party behind his candidacy.

What role her husband, former President Clinton, will play in Obama’s campaign remains unclear. During the primaries, Bill Clinton accused the Obama campaign of unfairly planting negative stories about his wife.

Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, told CNN on Friday that Obama would consult with the former president, “not just during the campaign, but after the campaign,” citing his “unbelievable insights and wisdom about government and politics.”

“But these things take time,” Axelrod said. “We just went through a 17-month struggle, the most competitive nominating fight in the history of the Democratic Party. Give us a few days to get our family back in order here.”

--

dan.morain@latimes.com

-

michael.finnegan @latimes.com