WASHINGTON, June 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. senator Hillary Clinton formally ended her presidential bid on Saturday and endorsed senator Barack Obama, who beat her in the epic Democratic nomination contest.

    Speaking to a large crowd of supporters at a rally in Washington DC, Clinton said she endorsed Obama, and "throw my full support behind him."

    "The way to continue our fight now, to accomplish the goals for which we stand, is to take our energy, our passion and our strength and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States," she said.

    To those who voted for her, Clinton said "I will continue to stand strong with you every time, every place and every way that I can."

    Some 6,000 people signed up on the New York senator's web site to attend the speech at the National Buildings Museum.

    Obama is spending Saturday in his home in Chicago, Illinois.

    A CNN poll released shows that the party is divided after a primary season that stretched over nearly 18 months and 57 contests.

    Sixty percent of Clinton supporters said they would vote for Obama, but 17 percent said they would vote for Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee and Obama's rival in the general election.

    Nearly one-quarter, 22 percent, said they would not vote at all if Clinton were not the Democrats' nominee.