Special Report: U.S. presidential election 2008

    WASHINGTON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has hinted that he would endorse Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to be the nominee, said a TV report on Thursday.

    According to CNN, Carter cited several reasons to explain his potential support for the Illinois Senator during an interview with a Nigerian paper in Abuja on Wednesday, and Obama's win in his state of Georgia was cited as one of them.

    "My town, which is home to 625 people, is for Obama, my children and their spouses are pro-Obama," he said. "My grandchildren are also pro-Obama."

    However, the former president, as a Superdelegates who has a vote at the Democratic nomination convention, declined to disclose "who I am rooting for" but left it open for guess.

    It was the latest hint of Carter's support for Obama. In January, he told the Wall Street Journal that Obama's campaign was "extraordinary and titillating" for him and his family.

    In response, the campaign of Obama's rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, tried to downplay Carter's remarks by saying "he is free to make whatever decision he thinks is appropriate with regard to presidential choice."

    "Both Senator Clinton and (former) President Clinton have a great deal of respect for (former) President Carter and have enjoyed their relationship with him over the years," said Clinton's spokesman Howard Wolfson.