Clinton donor meeting with Dean in Tampa tonight..she needs to stay in "anything can happen." [View All]

TAMPA — Even as top Democrats were trying to unify their party Monday night to begin focusing on November, the unresolved presidential primary continued to loom as Sen. Hillary Clinton planned to return to Florida on the same day Barack Obama is expected to also return to the state.

Clinton’s campaign made plans to be in South Florida on Wednesday, the same day Obama is scheduled to address a crowd of 20,000 at a rally in downtown Tampa. The battle for attention in Florida ran contrary to the message Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean tried to convey Monday to about 50 top Democrats at a private fundraising dinner in downtown Tampa. Dean slipped in and out of the Mise en Place restaurant through a side door to avoid speaking with media that sought to interview him.

Though Dean wasn’t talking to the media, Democrats who attended the meeting said the party leader focused on the need for the party to come together. He also said that the fight over Florida’s delegates will be resolved next week.

But Auslander, a Clinton supporter, said he is not ready to get behind Obama as long as Clinton remains in the race.

“I understand why she stays in,” he said, “because anything can happen.”

Ana Cruz, a Clinton activist from Tampa invited into the session with Dean, said by attending the meeting she was in no way conceding victory to Obama. Cruz said Clinton should continue to push on. She said the meeting was designed to begin building a strategy for how to proceed regardless of who wins the nomination.