Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) called on all Democrats to mobilize in force around Sen. Barack Obama and urged Hillary Clinton’s supporters to wholeheartedly back the presumptive Democratic nominee even though it’s natural that "some hard feelings would linger for a while."

"There may be some residual bitterness among supporters on both sides, but there's no question the wounds will heal, and the Democratic Party will enter this election season stronger than it has been in recent years," Rangel wrote in an editorial published in The New York Daily News Tuesday.

Rangel said he was proud of Clinton for "toughess and tenacity" and praised Obama because he "inspired a movement, bringing legions of new, youthful and previously disillusioned voters into the process and generating excitement unlike anything seen before in American politics."

Rangel, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee who supported Clinton’s candidacy but scolded the former first lady for not graciously dropping out of the race sooner, appeared to be reaching out to those wounded Clinton supporters -- mostly women -- who say they will not support Obama against Republican Sen. John McCain.

"It seems to me that by focusing on a singular vision, the party will naturally come together again. As Democrats, all we have to do now is mobilize and move forward, using the same successful message to draw Clinton's voters to Obama's side and help him make gains demographically and geographically where he may not have been as strong. The stakes are too high to not rally with one voice," Rangel wrote in the newspaper.

"Now that one of them, Sen. Obama, has been nominated, I have no doubts at all that he and Sen. Clinton will merge their individual strengths and rally their supporters to complete America's greatest historical drama," Rangel added.

A Democratic insider told BlackAmericaWeb.com Wednesday that party leaders like Rangel will be aggressively reaching out to prominent Clinton supporters "to get them on board" in supporting Obama.

Those efforts come as media reports suggest that Clinton surrogates have a "list" of what some call "traitors" who once backed Clinton but switched to Obama. The so-called Clinton list is the latest example of the bitter feelings and divide between Clinton and Obama supporters. Officially, a spokesman for Clinton, said: "There is no list."   

One black Republican insider told BlackAmericaWeb.com Wednesday that a number of conservative blacks say they will not support Obama in the general election -- even though Obama has become the first black presumptive presidential nominee in American history.

And there are also reports that some Democrats are also refusing to support Obama.

Democratic Rep. Dan Boren of Oklahoma said this week that Obama is "the most liberal senator" in Congress and he has no intention of endorsing him for the White House.

However, Boren will vote for Obama at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August and will vote Democratic on Nov. 4.

"I think this is an important time for our country," Boren said in a telephone interview. "We're facing a terrible economic downturn. We have high gasoline prices. We have problems in our foreign policy. That's why I think it's important."

Boren, the lone Democrat in Oklahoma's congressional delegate, said that while Obama has talked about working with Republicans, "unfortunately, his record does not reflect working in a bipartisan fashion."

Meanwhile, in an attempt to court Latino voters, McCain’s campaign released radio ads entitled "Cuba Prisoners," which will air in South Florida.

As the general election officially begins, the Obama campaign is considering McCain’s invitation to join him for a series of 10 joint town hall meetings. McCain sent a letter to Obama this week explaining his plan.

"What a welcome change it would be were presidential candidates in our time to treat each other and the people they seek to lead with respect and courtesy as they discussed the great issues of the day, without the empty soundbites and media-filtered exchanges that dominate our elections," McCain wrote.

McCain even suggested that he and Obama could fly together to the town hall meetings on the same airplane.

McCain’s letter to Obama came a day after Obama met privately with Christian leaders, including conservatives who have been criticized for praising the Democratic presidential candidate.

Bishop T.D. Jakes, a prominent black clergyman who heads a Dallas megachurch, said Obama took questions, listened to participants and discussed his "personal journey of faith."

The discussion "went absolutely everywhere," Jakes told The Associated Press, and "just about every Christian stripe was represented in that room."

Jakes, who does not endorse candidates and said he also hopes to meet with the Republican presumptive nominee, said some participants clearly have political differences with Obama. The senator's support for abortion rights and gay rights, among other issues, draws opposition from religious conservatives. Some conservatives have criticized Jakes for praising Obama.

Jakes said the meeting, held at a law firm's offices, seemed designed to prompt a wide discussion rather than to result in commitments from either Obama or those attending. Others familiar with the meeting said some participants agreed to attend only because it would be private.

About 30 people attended, the campaign said, but it released only three names: the Rev. Stephen Thurston, head of the National Baptist Convention of America, Inc., a historically black denomination; the Rev. T. Dewitt Smith, president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., which was home to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders; and Bishop Phillip Robert Cousin Sr., an A.M.E. clergyman and former NAACP board member.

Jakes said there was just a brief mention of Jeremiah Wright, Obama's former pastor, who became the focus of a political flare-up earlier in the year after videos of his sermons showed him cursing the government and accusing it of conspiring against blacks.