UNITY!!! YAY

After the longest primary battle in modern U.S. history, Barack Obama will campaign with former rival Hillary Clinton on Friday for the first time since the New York senator abandoned her presidential bid.

Sen. Barack Obama will make his first campaign appearance with Sen. Hillary Clinton on Friday.

Their joint appearance will be at a rally in Unity, New Hampshire, a small town on the state's western border where the two candidates tied in the January primary.

"It is not only well-named, but in the New Hampshire primary both of us received exactly 107 votes," Clinton said Thursday in Washington. "So it pretty much mirrored the rest of the campaign, where it was right down the middle."

Clinton and Obama endured a protracted and, at times, fierce primary season. After months of divisive contests that took them through every state, the two are now focused on uniting their party in order to defeat the Republicans in November.

Concern 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. Watch what Clinton and Obama hope to accomplish »

In exit polls conducted throughout the primary season, many Clinton backers said they either would not vote or would vote for Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican candidate, should Obama become their party's nominee.

Clinton has said it would be a "grave" mistake for her supporters to cast their votes for McCain.

"Anyone who voted for me has very little in common with the Republican party. If you care about the issues I care about, and the future that I outlined during my campaign, then you really have to stay with us in the Democratic Party and vote for Sen. Obama to be our next president," she said in Washington on Tuesday.

Ever since Clinton endorsed Obama this month, she has been urging her supporters to follow suit.

"The way to continue our fight now to accomplish the goals for which we stand is to take our energy, our passion, our strength and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States," she said as she suspended her campaign.

Obama and Clinton have appeared on good terms in recent weeks. Obama has repeatedly praised Clinton while on the trail, and this week he asked some of his top donors to help Clinton retire some of her campaign debt.

Obama has shied away from any talk of a possible joint ticket, although he's said Clinton "would be on anyone's short-list."

The senator from Illinois has made it clear, however, that he wants Clinton to help as much as she can.

"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 Wednesday while 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.

But voters aren't quick to forget what was, at times, was a contentious race for the Democratic nomination.

Clinton labeled Obama and "elitist" for saying some small-town Pennsylvanians were "bitter" people who "cling to guns and religion" in the days leading up to that state's primary.

Obama accused Clinton on Sunday of acting like "Annie Oakley ... packin' a six-shooter" in her attempts to connect with gun owners.

Clinton questioned Obama's experience; he made swipes at her judgment.

The two also endured preacher-gate, Bosnia-gate and a bitter battle over the race card, among other controversies that have framed the race.

So will Democrats be able to coalesce around their nominee? Political analyst and Democratic superdelegate Donna Brazile says absolutely.


"They were allies before the campaign. They will be allies again. They are very -- two astute politicians, very smart individuals, and I am sure that Sen. Obama will have Sen. Clinton as a trusted adviser. Someone who can help guide him along the path as he goes forward," she said.

Ahead of their appearance Friday, Clinton and Obama planned to meet privately with donors Thursday night.