On The HUSTINGS

MCCAIN, ROMNEY JOIN UP ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL — A FIRST

Senator McCain made a first campaign appearance with his one-time bitter Republican rival, Mitt Romney. The two joined up for fund-raising appearances and a press conference yesterday in Utah, a state where Mr. Romney won with 90% of the vote. "We are united. Now our job is to energize our party," Mr. McCain said as he stood alongside Mr. Romney and Governor Huntsman at an airplane hangar, the Associated Press reported. The Arizona senator and the former Massachusetts governor attacked each other frequently — and at times harshly — during the Republican primary, but Mr. Romney endorsed Mr. McCain after he dropped out of the race, citing his strength on national security. Mr. Romney is said to be interested in the vice presidency as well as another White House run if Mr. McCain doesn't win in November.

OBAMA COMPARES PRIMARY TO 'BATAAN DEATH MARCH'

Senator Obama was trying to tamp down donor concerns over the impact of a drawn-out Democratic primary yesterday, but he ended up coining a new comparison for the increasingly bitter battle: the Bataan death march. "For those of you who are just weary of the primary, and feeling kind of ground down or that it's like a Bataan death march, I just want everybody to know that the future is bright," he told supporters at a $1,000-a-plate fund-raiser in Midtown Manhattan yesterday. Echoing recent comments by Senator Clinton, Mr. Obama said he was confident that once the primary is over, the Democratic Party will be "completely unified."

DODD SAYS PARTY LEADERS SHOULD STEP IN SOON

Senator Dodd of Connecticut is calling on Democratic Party leaders to begin shortly efforts to end the intense primary battle between senators Obama and Clinton. "Certainly over the next couple of weeks, as we get into April, it seems to me then that the national leadership of this party has to stand up and reach a conclusion," the former presidential contender told National Journal. Mr. Dodd, who recently endorsed Senator Obama, is a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and one of the first party leaders to publicly voice the sentiment that party elders should step in and determine the nomination. He said he feared that an ongoing, divisive battle for the next five months until the nominating convention could be "devastating."

CLINTON TELLS DEMOCRATS NOT TO VOTE FOR MCCAIN

Senator Clinton told an audience in North Carolina last night that Democrats frustrated about their party's nominating fight should not defect and support the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Senator McCain. "Please think through this decision," Mrs. Clinton said, according to CNN. "It is not a wise decision for yourself or your country." Mrs. Clinton said support for her and for Senator Obama has been "intense," but she said she believes Democrats will be unified in November. "When this contest is over and we have a nominee, we're going to close ranks, we're going to be united," she said.

MOVEON.ORG COUNTERS CLINTON DONORS' LETTER TO PELOSI

A liberal, grassroots group, MoveOn.org, is taking issue with an attempt by Senator Clinton's donors to urge Speaker Pelosi to reconsider her statement that superdelegates should be reluctant to overturn the outcome of the Democratic presidential primaries and caucuses. "This is pretty outrageous: a group of Clinton-supporting big Democratic donors are threatening to stop supporting Democrats in Congress because Nancy Pelosi said that the people, not the superdelegates, should decide the Presidential nomination," MoveOn.org said in an e-mail message to members. "It's the worst kind of insider politics — billionaires bullying our elected leaders into ignoring the will of the voters."

The group urged members to sign a petition which would be sent to Ms. Pelosi and other house leaders. On Wednesday, 20 of Mrs. Clinton's supporters who are also donors to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee suggested they might withhold their support if she did not back off of her statement about the proper role of superdelegates.