He weathered the longest primary season ever and made history by securing the Democratic Party's presidential nomination Tuesday night, but Senator Barack Obama's work is just beginning. Though he was able to beat rival Senator Hillary Clinton in a pitched battle that made for one of the closest, most widely followed primaries in a generation, Obama must now turn his attention to mending fences with Clinton, while wooing the tens of millions of voters who typically don't start paying attention until the general election.

Dave Beattie, a Democratic political consultant who has not worked with either candidate this campaign season, said Obama's top priority should be having a frank, one-on-one conversation with Clinton. "Rather than innuendo, he needs to figure out what she wants, and he needs her to say, 'I support you. I'm with you, Barack, and we need to work together to win the presidency,' " Beattie said.

Clinton, who said Tuesday she would take a few days to figure out her next move, is clearly not at that point yet. But rather than wait to see if she will help bring her nearly 18 million followers Obama's way, Beattie said the Illinois senator must start introducing himself to the majority of voters who don't vote in primaries but believe voting in the general election is important.

"The majority of Republicans and Democrats don't vote in primaries, and a lot of independents are not eligible to vote or choose not to," Beattie said. "They have images of what they've seen in the race so far but not a real firm sense of who either candidate is, though they probably have a better sense of [Senator John] McCain because he's been around longer in the public eye."

Elections are won and lost on the backs of independent voters, Beattie added, and Obama needs to convince them that the debate is now between him and McCain and that his plan for getting the country back on track is better than his opponent's.

In addition to building bridges with Clinton and independents, Obama must reach out to the constituencies that helped the former first lady keep the race as tight as it was, said Fredrick Harris, a professor of political science at Columbia University. "He needs to reach out to women, who have been particularly enthusiastic about her candidacy, and white, working-class voters and older voters, who will be key to a victory in the fall," Harris said. "He also has to appeal to the party elite, who have been quite divided." Other groups that supported Clinton who might need some extra attention from Obama in the coming months are Jewish and Latino voters, who have been seeing more of the presumptive nominee in the past few weeks as he has slowly moved into general-election mode.

Among the ways Harris said Obama could reassure Clinton and gain her support are by helping to pay off her considerable campaign debt; discussing the vice-presidential slot or some other administration post; and reassuring Clinton that her policy priorities — health care, troop withdrawal from Iraq and economic reform — are key to his campaign.

"What he really has to do is focus and get ready to run against John McCain, which a lot of people think will be a close and difficult race," Harris said. "There is very little time after the Democratic Convention until the general election for him to build a case among the American people and reintroduce himself to a wider audience." Between now and then, one of the key areas Obama has to prove himself on is international affairs, a point of weakness in his campaign so far and a potential vulnerability against Senate veteran McCain.

"He's doing fine on domestic issues and the economy, but he really has to show that he can lead the country if there's an international crisis and that he is going to have a cautious approach to get the country out of the war in Iraq," Harris said. "He has to reassure the country that he has, if not experience, which he doesn't, then foresight for ending the war."

Another task any presidential candidate must consider once becoming the presumptive nominee is selecting a vice-presidential candidate. According to The Associated Press, Obama began that job Wednesday (June 4), when he convened a group of three advisers, including Caroline Kennedy, to help him compile a list of potential running mates.

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