Sarah Palin has ensured disgruntled Clinton supporters will vote for Obama, writes Dana Milbankin Philadelphia

THE HILLARY voter has come home. It wasn't primarily the work of Hillary Clinton, although by her count she has made more than 50 public appearances for Barack Obama. Nor was it the work of Obama, who has kept Clinton and her advisers at arm's length. No, the one who put the Hillary Clinton voters in Obama's column was John McCain - with his choice of a running mate.

"Palin - God forbid! Where did they find her?" Evelyn Fruman exclaimed on Monday before a Clinton speech at a Jewish community centre here.

"God forbid!" Gail Silverberg chimed in. "Hockey moms and lipstick on a pig and six-packs? I don't want that stuff."

Nearby, Rina Jampolsky was wearing a "Hillary Sent Me" button next to a pin saying "Barack Obama" in Hebrew. "I thought I wouldn't vote at all when Hillary left the race," she said, "but as soon as McCain selected Sarah Palin, my decision was made."

They were the quintessential Hillary supporters waiting for their heroine at the hall in northeast Philly: virtually all white, mostly women and mostly old. Of the minority who were not Jewish, most were Catholic. In the local state Senate district, primary voters went for Clinton over Obama by three to one.

Something has happened in recent weeks among the Clinton faithful.

Fear of the right-wing Palin, coupled with the economic collapse, has caused them to quietly swallow their Obama misgivings. The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that 81 per cent of Democrats and like- minded independents who favoured Clinton now back Obama.

Of course, there are still some tender feelings - most publicly those of Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell, who gave a most unusual introduction to Clinton at her rally for Obama on Monday in Horsham, near Philadelphia.

"Of all the things I've done in politics, the proudest accomplishment I'll look back on is the seven-week campaign we ran for Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania," Rendell said. About half the outdoor rally applauded.

"Hillary did so many things right. She spoke for us, she had our dreams and our hopes."

A smaller number of people clapped.

"It was a wonderful campaign, and it was wonderful to see people who would tell me, 'I'm never voting for Hillary Clinton', by the end of that seven weeks were avid Hillary Clinton supporters," Rendell continued. This time nobody applauded.

Rendell recovered, sort of. "In Washington DC, if we lose all of our supporters, all the people who look out for us, there will be one man left standing," he said, "but that man will be a woman, Hillary Rodham Clinton."

Clinton tried to take over the microphone, uttering a "Whoa!" - but Rendell reclaimed the floor. "One last time!" he shouted, leading the crowd in a chant of "Hillary! Hillary!" And this would be an Obama rally?

The sentiment was much the same in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, when Bill and Hillary Clinton joined Joe Biden and his wife at an Obama rally. Bill Clinton got nearly two-thirds of the way through his speech before speaking the words "Barack Obama", while he mentioned his wife more often than the presidential nominee.

"I expect to spend the rest of my natural life trying to show people how grateful I am to those who supported Hillary in her long quest this last year," the former president said.

Hillary Clinton, up next, had a modest proposal. "Go out and make the case, because Barack and Joe are not asking you to marry them. They are asking you to vote for them - and vote for yourselves."

Clinton herself has been a loyal soldier for Obama on the stump - no small matter for a woman who, if Obama prevails, will have her own presidential ambitions postponed for eight years, if not indefinitely. Although she offers little in the way of a personal endorsement, she combines a cerebral defence of Obama with a visceral denunciation of McCain.

The closest she got to a personal endorsement was describing Biden and Obama as "two leaders with the intelligence and the determination and the good ideas and the savvy to get the job done".

She reasoned: "Barack and Joe are for you, and that's why I'm for Barack and Joe." But she, and the crowd, were far more passionate in denunciation of McCain and President Bush. "We are in a financial crisis born and bred by the failed Republican policies of George Bush and John McCain."

The very mention of Palin's name caused the crowd to erupt in boos and hisses; Clinton gave an exaggerated shrug. "It took a Democratic president to clean up after the last Bush and it's going to take a Democratic president to clean up after this Bush."

She had used the same line in the primary season but said it would take a Clinton to do the cleaning.

The crowd in Horsham was stirred to the familiar old chant of "Hillary! Hillary!" when the former candidate felt stirred to respond. "I know that there are many of you in this crowd who supported me, and I will be forever grateful," she said.

"We love you!" somebody called out.

"I love you, too," Clinton said, but she then returned to the business at hand. "There is only one choice," she said. "Barack Obama and Joe Biden will fight for you." - ( Los Angeles Times- Washington Post service)

Billion-dollar poll: priciest US vote

NEW YORK - The cost of the US presidential election could break the billion-dollar barrier for the first time in history this year, experts say.

Michael Toner, chairman of the Federal Election Commission, which governs the election, told the Washington Postthat the 2008 race would be "the most expensive election in American history" and a "$1 billion election".

The cost of the last presidential campaign in 2004, considered a peak for its time, was $693 million (€508 million). Just two decades ago, the race which saw Republican George HW Bush succeed Ronald Reagan at the White House cost $59 million.

In 2008, the figures are staggering. Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has frequently broken fundraising records, bringing in $66 million last August alone, taking his total to more than $454 million by September 20th. John McCain has raised $230 million.

Once all the money spent by the candidates, their parties' national committees, political action committees, so-called 527 groups created to influence the election, trade unions and trade groups is considered, it will be a $3 billion election, the US business magazine Fortune predicts.

The key battleground state of Pennsylvania has been targeted by both campaigns, with more than $40 million being spent there alone, $10 million more than anywhere else in the country. - ( AP)