The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Washington

US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton faced increasing odds Monday as a new opinion poll showed rival Barack Obama consolidating his nationwide support.

A Gallup tracking survey indicated the Illinois senator extending his lead over Clinton among Democrats nationally to 52 percent versus 42 percent, Obama's largest lead of the year so far.

This marks the first time either candidate has held a double-digit lead over the other since early February, when Clinton led Obama by 11 percentage points, the polling firm pointed out.

On Sunday, the New York senator vowed to stay in the White House race to the bitter end as party elders floated ideas to avert a paralyzing struggle between her and Barack Obama. In a Washington Post interview, the former first lady said: "I know there are some people who want to shut this down and I think they are wrong.

"I have no intention of stopping until we finish what we started and until we see what happens in the next 10 contests, and until we resolve Florida and Michigan." The two states were stripped of their delegates to the Democrats' August convention when they advanced their primaries into January.

Clinton won both contests and needs the results to stand to have any chance of overhauling Obama's lead in the national popular vote.

The Clinton-backing chief executive of Pennsylvania, which is the next state to vote on April 22, said it was a "disgrace" that Obama's campaign was pressing for him to become the nominee with weeks of voting to go.

But Governor Edward Rendell, speaking on ABC television, also said he would "love" for the two star Democrats to join forces against Republican candidate John McCain for November's general election.