New York, Aug. 19: At least 28 percent of the delegates likely to attend the Democratic Convention in Denver, want Hillary Clinto to be Barack Obama’s running mate, a new CBS poll has said.

Six percent favour Delaware Senator Joe Biden, and four percent mention two other unsuccessful Democratic candidates: New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards.

Other people mentioned by at least 2 percent of delegates a

Support for Clinton as the first choice for the vice-presidential nomination is not universal. It is mostly found among delegates who were pledged to her when selected.

Sixty-one percent of delegates pledged to Clinton name her as their choice for vice presidential candidate.

Obama’s pledged delegates are less enthusiastic about the choice of Clinton as the vice presidential nominee. Eight percent of them chose Richardson, seven percent choose Biden, and another six percent choose John Edwards. Just percent name Clinton, and as just as many suggested Sebelius, Webb or Clark.

CBS News and The New York Times interviewed a random sample of 972 delegates to the convention, including both pledged delegates (who were committed to support a candidate when they were selected to attend the convention), and super delegates, the party leaders and elected officials who can support any candidate they choose at any time.

Most delegates (61 percent) think Clinton’s selection would help Obama’s chances of winning the general election in November. Nearly all of those originally pledged to Clinton say this.

Thirty-five percent of Obama’s pledged delegates think having Clinton’s name on the ticket would help Obama win in November, 23 percent of them say choosing her would hurt.

Nearly half the superdelegates interviewed did not offer a VP pick. Clinton led among those who did - 20 percent named her. But 10 percent selected Biden, four percent named Edwards, five percent chose Bayh and three percent volunteered Richardson.

By more than five to one, super delegates think putting Clinton on the ticket would help Obama win the election: 56 percent say she would help, 11 percent say she would hurt Obama’s chances. The rest are undecided or don’t think her candidacy would affect his chances of victory in November.

The CBS News/New York Times Delegate Poll was conducted July 16-August 17, 2008 with a random sample of 972 Democratic delegates. The error due to sampling could be plus or minus three percentage points for results based on the entire sample.

The poll was conducted via phone. (ANI)