Obama in no hurry to choose veep

Having clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama indicated on Thursday that he was in no hurry to choose his deputy, a ticket coveted by vanquished rival Hillary Clinton, saying he would look at a whole range of options.

Amid a guessing game over a Clinton-Obama "dream ticket", the 46-year-old who has scripted history by becoming the first African American nominee of a major US party formed a three-member committee to vet the vice presidential nominee and said that both sides needed to catch their breath after the prolonged, bitter contest.

The committee includes former President John F Kennedy's influential daughter Caroline Kennedy, who endorsed Obama during the campaign, former deputy attorney general Eric Holder and former chief executive of Fannie Mae Jim Johnson who had performed a similar task for John Kerry in 2004.

"Senator Obama is pleased to have three talented and dedicated individuals managing this rigorous process. He will work closely with them in the coming weeks but ultimately this will be his decision and his alone," his spokesman said.

In an interview with NBC, Obama counselled both sides to relax. "We just completed a very hard-fought contest. She (Clinton) needs to catch her breath. I need to catch mine. I think all our supporters need to just sit back and let things sink in. We're gonna go through a process in the vice-presidential search where I look at a whole range of options," he said.

Quick to pounce on his Democratic rival, Republican candidate John McCain challenged Obama to ten town hall type debates before the Democratic convention in August.