Clinton-Obama race

Odessa attorney Richard Abalos said he wants to wait and see before he determines whom he'll support at the state Democratic convention Friday and Saturday in Austin.

Abalos, a Hillary Clinton supporter and delegate to the convention, wanted to wait Tuesday afternoon to see if reports of the New York senator conceding the race to Illinois Sen. Barack Obama turned out to be accurate.

"Both of them have fought very hard," Abalos said. "I'd be very surprised if she concedes today, but you just can't tell."

If Clinton drops out, Abalos said he'd put his support behind Obama.

Abalos' two daughters are also delegates. He said Feliz Abalos is not committed, while Andrea Abalos supports Obama.

In the long run, John Wilkins, Ector County Democratic Party chairman, said the long, sometimes heated race would be good for the candidate who faces Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, in November.

"In all 50 states, there's been an unbelievable amount of interest," he said Tuesday morning, shortly after reports of a possible Clinton concession came out. "There've been some rough steps along the way, but it's over now."

Wilkins expects divisions within the party to start to heal at the state convention.

"I think that'll be a good first step," he said.

A good way for the party to come together would be for Obama to name Clinton as his running mate, Abalos said. He compares the situation to when John F. Kennedy choose Lyndon Johnson as his vice presidential nominee in 1960.

While he said Johnson and Kennedy were "complete opposites," Obama and Clinton are "fairly compatible."

"They can explain it's just in the heat of combat you say things you don't really mean," Abalos said.