Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) allies in Congress do not want Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) as his running mate, even though many Clinton supporters are pushing the “dream ticket.”

The latest to tout a joint ticket is Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio), co-chairman of Clinton’s national campaign, who said on MSNBC Monday that she would like to see Clinton and Obama run together.

Some are wary of putting Clinton on the ticket because they believe she has run a racially divisive campaign.

Former President Bill Clinton enraged Obama supporters when he predicted Obama would win the South Carolina primary because voting would fall along racial lines. The former president later compared Obama’s victory to the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s win there in 1988.

Mrs. Clinton recently riled Obama’s allies by talking to USA Today about her greater popularity among white working-class voters.

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), an Obama supporter, said Edwards would make a better running mate because “he hasn’t made as many people angry. Some of the things she has said and done and her husband has said and done have disappointed people in a serious way. The comment that she was there for [the] white working class was divisive. I would hope there is a black and Latino working class she would be there for.”

Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.), another Obama ally, said choosing Clinton could unify the party but also anger black supporters. “The downside is the divide that has occurred over the last year in this primary is pretty wide,” Clay said. “I’m not sure the Obama supporters will fall in line and support her. It’s evident that she and her husband started down this racial path shortly after the South Carolina primary and they continue to hearken back to racial divides in this country.”

Pro-Obama lawmakers say the running mate needs to be “a fresh face” or should have better foreign policy and national security credentials than Clinton. They worry that Clinton, who was embroiled in bitter partisan disputes during eight years as first lady, would undermine Obama’s claim that he would unite people from across the political spectrum.

 “I think you’d have to go for a fresh face,” said Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), an Obama supporter, adding that it would make sense for Obama to choose from among the party’s “wide range of experienced foreign policy and national security experts. Sam Nunn, he’d be my first choice.”

Nunn, one of the party’s most respected authorities on defense, served 24 years in the Senate and is two years younger than presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.). He might help refute Republican charges that Obama lacks national security experience.

 Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), another Obama ally, also prefers someone like Nunn.

“Clinton’s forte has been domestic policies; I would prefer someone with a heavier experience on defense,” he said.