Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, two leading candidates in the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, were in Los Angeles on Sunday, to raise funds.

Both Clinton and Obama came from San Diego, more than 100 miles south of Los Angeles, where they spoke at the Democratic State Convention.

Clinton said withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq would be "the very first thing I will do upon taking office," while Obama reminded delegates that he opposed the Bush administration's decision to start the war, unlike Clinton, who voted in favor of the resolution authorizing use of force.

Obama was not a member of the U.S. Senate when the vote was taken.

Obama continues to chip away at Clinton's lead in the race for the nomination, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Wednesday.

Clinton topped the survey conducted between April 20-23 with 36 percent. Obama was second with 31 percent, while former North Carolina Sen.John Edwards was third with 20 percent. No other candidate had more than 3 percent. The margin of error was 4.4 percentage points.

In a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted March 2-5, Clinton led with 40 percent, followed by Obama with 28 percent and Edwards with 15 percent. A Dec. 8-11 poll by the organizations had Clinton in the lead with 37 percent, followed by Obama with 18 percent and Edwards with 14 percent.

Source: Xinhua