Pelosi: Clinton-Obama race should 'run its course'

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(CNN) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in a TV interview that aired Tuesday, said the protracted presidential race between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama should be allowed to "run its course"

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Democrats must rally behind one candidate before the national convention.

But the California Democrat also said her party must rally behind a candidate "a long time" before the national convention in August.

"The election has to run its course," Pelosi told ABC News. "We have to continue the election in terms of hearing from the people."

Pelosi recently received a letter from Clinton supporters criticizing her for suggesting that the party's superdelegates, which consist of elected and party officials, should vote for the candidate at the convention who has the most pledged delegates after the primaries.

Neither Clinton nor Obama will win the 2,024 delegates needed to capture the nomination outright, meaning that the superdelegates likely will determine the Democratic nominee. Video Watch an analysis of the race »

Pelosi's earlier comments appeared to favor Obama, who leads Clinton in delates 1,625 to 1,486, according to CNN estimates.

But Pelosi said, "We do not know what these next elections will do" over the next four to six weeks, with primaries in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and other states.

"Sen. Clinton may well be going to the convention as the nominee," she said.

In the ABC interview, Pelosi stuck by her assessment that it would be harmful to the party if it appeared the superdelegates overturned the will of the people. However, the speaker told ABC, "The superdelegates have the right to vote their conscience and who they think will be the better president and who can win."

She added, "At some point it'll be clear that there is a front-runner -- and at that point, we would hope that for the greater good, for the country, that we can all rally as early as possible behind one person."

Pelosi told ABC that one of the candidates "is going have to realize the numbers" prevent them from winning the nomination and step aside.

Clinton recently has fended off calls from prominent Obama supporters -- including Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont -- to drop out of the race, and she accused the Illinois Democrat's campaign of trying to suppress the vote.

"I know that a lot of Sen. Obama's supporters have tried to stop this election before people have a chance to vote," Clinton said in an interview Monday night with WNCT-TV in Greenville, North Carolina.

The senator from New York has made similar remarks in Indiana, with a May 3 primary, and in Montana, which votes June 3.

The Obama campaign called the charges "completely laughable." Obama on Tuesday said Clinton should stay in the race as long as she wants.

"As long as she is on the ballot in any state and she's got supporters who want to cast their ballot for her, that she has every right to stay in the race," Obama told NBC News.

"She has run a formidable race. I mean, we won 11 contests in a row and that didn't knock her out, and that's some tenacity on her part," he said.

Despite the protracted primary battle, Pelosi expressed confidence a Democrat would beat Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, in the general election.

Pelosi praised McCain for his lifetime of service, calling the Arizona Republican a "true patriot," but said the eventual Democratic nominee would beat him in the fall because "our candidate will be talking about the future."

Pelosi's comments come as the two Democratic presidential candidates continue to campaign in Pennsylvania. That state's April 22 contest is the next big event on the Democratic primary calendar.

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