• AAP
• March 19, 2016 12:00AM
• Save
• Print

Senator Bernie Sanders said it would be “absurd” to suggest he drop out of the race.

The Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, responding to reports that President Barack Obama had called on Democrats to rally around Hillary Clinton as the likely nominee, said yesterday it was “absurd” to suggest he drop out of the race.

Mr Obama told a group of Democratic donors last Friday that Senator Sanders was nearing the point at which his campaign against Mrs Clinton would end, and the party must soon come together to back her, The New York Times reported.

While saying he did not want to comment directly on Mr Obama’s reported remarks, Senator Sanders pushed back on the idea his campaign had run its course and he should throw in the towel. “The bottom line is that when only half of the American people have participated in the political process ... I think it is ­absurd for anybody to suggest those people not have a right to cast a vote,” Senator Sanders told MSNBC.

The White House yesterday said Mr Obama did not indicate which candidate he preferred in his remarks to the donors.

Senator Sanders earlier conceded defeat to Mrs Clinton in the Missouri primary, giving the former secretary of state all five states at stake on Wednesday, including the key ones of Florida and Ohio.

The Missouri results had been too close to call until Senator Sanders conceded defeat, saying he would not request a recount.

On the Republican side, Marco Rubio said he would not be anybody’s running-mate on Nov­ember 8 or seek any public office when his term in the Senate ended. “No, I’m not going to be anybody’s vice-president,” Senator Rubio said on Capitol Hill.

“I’m going to finish out my term in the Senate over the next 10 months ... and then I’ll be a private citizen in January.”

Senator Rubio dropped out of the race following his loss in his home-state of Florida.

Reuters, AFP