June 8 (Bloomberg) -- Democrat Barack Obama will win over supporters of Hillary Clinton because he offers a ``stark'' contrast with Republican John McCain on issues such as health care and the economy, California Senator Dianne Feinstein said.

Feinstein, speaking on the ABC News program ``This Week,'' said Obama ``needs to reach out to the Clinton supporters, and he needs to reassure them as to what he would do in the agenda for change'' on issues that Clinton's backers care about.

``You're not going to get major health care reform out of John McCain,'' Democrat Feinstein said as she cited a list of policy differences between Obama and McCain, who have secured enough votes to be their respective parties' presidential nominees. ``And it goes on and on like that.''

New York Senator Clinton suspended her presidential bid yesterday and urged the nearly 18 million people who supported her for the Democratic presidential nomination to back Obama, an Illinois senator she often criticized as inexperienced and out- of-touch during the campaign. McCain is making his own appeal to those voters, including the elderly, women and working class whites, to cross over and vote for him in the November election.

Feinstein, who hosted a private meeting between Clinton and Obama at her Washington home last week, said she believes Clinton is committed to helping Obama get elected.

`It's Over'

``She recognizes that it's over, and I think every instinct in Hillary Clinton is to help,'' Feinstein said.

Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson, speaking on the CBS News program ``Face the Nation,'' agreed. ``There were some moments of bitterness, but overall I think that the party is unified,'' he said. ``We're going to be together, because the stakes are too high not to be.''

Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, a Democrat, said on ``Fox News Sunday'' that Obama's victory in his state on Feb. 12 shows the first black candidate to be a major party's nominee has cross- over appeal.

``The fact that people preferred Senator Clinton to Senator Obama does not mean they'll not get on board,'' Kaine said, adding that Obama won white and Latino votes in his state's primary.

Obama kicked off his general election campaign last week with events in the Virginia cities of Bristol and Manassas. Virginia, a state with 13 electoral votes, hasn't voted for a Democrat for president since backing Lyndon Johnson in 1964, though it has elected two consecutive Democrats including Kaine to be governor and in 2006 elected Democrat Jim Webb to the U.S. Senate.

A New Coalition

Webb, speaking on ``Face the Nation,'' said Obama will appeal to people who voted for Republicans such as Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush in the past.

``I think he's got a great opportunity here in this transitional election to put together a new coalition,'' Webb, who was secretary of the Navy under Republican Reagan, said.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, a Republican speaking on ``Fox News Sunday,'' said McCain is better positioned to win key states in the upper Midwest such as his own, which has 10 electoral votes and hasn't backed a Republican since Richard Nixon in 1972.

``Who's the change candidate in this election? It's McCain,'' Pawlenty said.

Energy Policies

Both Kaine and Pawlenty said the economy and energy prices will play a central role in the election. Oil prices reached $138.54 a barrel on Friday, prompting Japan to warn that sustained prices of more than $130 a barrel may slow global economic growth.

Kaine said Obama wants to subsidize cleaner coal technologies and wants to raise taxes on oil companies and spend the revenue on researching alternative energy sources.

Pawlenty criticized Obama for voting for a 2005 energy law that McCain opposed because the Arizona senator thought it was too beneficial for big oil companies.

``Senator McCain has led on this issue,'' Pawlenty said. ``Obama robotically toed the line'' of the Democratic Party, he said.

On ABC News, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican who supports McCain, said the Arizona senator also backs development of alternative energy sources and would increase exploration for domestic sources of oil and gas.

Alternative Energy

``One way to help our economy is to stop sending $450 billion overseas, with oil prices this high,'' Graham said. McCain will ``look for oil and gas in our backyard, find alternative energies to get away from fossil fuel consumption,'' Graham said.

Supporters of McCain and Obama also contrasted the candidates' positions on tax policies.

McCain has advocated renewing $2 trillion worth of tax cuts enacted at President George W. Bush's behest and has proposed additional tax cuts, including reductions in the top corporate rate of 35 percent.

Obama has proposed raising income taxes on high-income Americans and increasing the payroll tax used to pay Social Security benefits for people earning more than $100,000. He has proposed to lower taxes for elderly citizens earning less than $50,000 and to implement a zero capital gains tax rate for new and small businesses, Kaine said.

``You've got a high-tax guy, and you've got a cut-the-tax guy, and that will be a simple choice,'' Graham said on ABC.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan J. Donmoyer in Washington at rdonmoyer@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 8, 2008 12:59 EDT