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NEW YORK - Sen. Barack Obama, who swooped into town for a whirlwind fundraising tour of Manhattan’s toniest apartments, made it clear Monday that he’s not running to be Sen. Hillary Clinton’s vice president.
“You don’t run for second,” the Illinois Democrat said on CBS’ “Late Night With David Letterman.”
“I don’t believe in that.”
Asked if he would consider Clinton, D-N.Y., as his veep, he praised her as a “terrific senator” but said he wasn’t going there.
“I think all the candidates are in to win,” Obama said. “We’re all on the same team. We’re all Democrats. What we’re doing is we’re trying out for quarterback.”
Obama was full of praise for all the candidates, including perennial dark horse Dennis Kucinich, saying he has “that devil-may-care attitude that I think is healthy for a presidential race.”
Obama, who is generally a hit on comedy shows, joked about being gone from home so long while campaigning.
“My wife is starting to refer to me as her first husband,” he said. “It’s a little disturbing.”
He said the campaign would be a long grind.
“You know, they give out these key chains that have a countdown on how many days are left in the Bush administration, which I used to think was really funny until I realized that’s how long I have to campaign,” he said.
“It wasn’t funny anymore.”
Obama didn’t just come to Manhattan to crack jokes.
On the heels of last week’s surprise announcement that he raised an eye-popping $25 million, Obama was back for more.
He hit up fat cats at soirees on Central Park West, in SoHo and on the upper East Side.
His campaign, which had kept mum about his fundraising success in the first quarter, wouldn’t say what its expected take was.
