Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, each donated $ 2,300 to the campaign of his former rival, Hillary Clinton, which is $ 22 million in debt.
WASHINGTON: Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, each donated $ 2,300 to the campaign of his former rival, Hillary Clinton, which is $ 22 million in debt.
In addition, Obama's national finance chairman, Penny Pritzker, and her husband donated another $ 2,300 each, said Obama's communications director Robert Gibbs.
The $ 2,300 is the maximum individual contribution allowed under US laws.
"(Obama) wrote a check himself, as well as his finance chairman, so I got two checks in my pocket for Hillary," said Clinton adviser Terry McAuliffe.
Asked how much the checks were for, he responded, "They maxed out."
Gibbs confirmed the Obamas' donations, CNN reported.
The move comes nearly three weeks after Clinton suspended her campaign and endorsed 47 year-old Obama, who hopes to be the first black-American president.
Earlier this week, Obama asked top contributors to help Clinton retire her campaign debt of $ 22 million, about 12 million of which she loaned to her own campaign.
The two Democrats met last night in Washington with her top fundraisers ahead of their planned joint appearance together at a rally in Unity, New Hampshire.
Clinton and Obama are now focused on uniting their party in order to defeat the Republicans in the November general election.
Concerns about the division in the party arose because the two candidates appealed to such different segments of the electorate. Clinton did well with working-class voters and the elderly. Obama rallied the support of affluent, well educated voters, African-Americans and the younger generation.
In exit polls, many Clinton backers said they either would not vote or would vote for John McCain, the presumptive Republican candidate, should Obama become their party's nominee.
Clinton, 60, has said it would be a "grave" mistake for her supporters to cast their votes for 71-year-old McCain.
Obama and Clinton have appeared on good terms in recent weeks. Obama has repeatedly praised Clinton while on the trail.
Obama has shied away from any talk of a possible joint ticket, although he has said Clinton "would be on anyone's short list."
The Senator from Illinois has made it clear, however, that he wants Clinton's help.
"I want her campaigning as much as she can. She was a terrific campaigner. She I think inspired millions of people, and so she can be an extraordinarily effective surrogate for me, and the values and ideals that we share as Democrats," Obama said on Wednesday in Chicago.
"I think we will have a terrific time together in New Hampshire. And I think that she will be very effective all the way through the election," he said.
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