Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and his campaign aides have not discussed paying off his rival's $20 million campaign debt, top advisers to Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) said Sunday.

“She hasn't asked and we haven't offered,” Obama chief strategist David Axelrod said on “Fox News Sunday.” Axelrod added that he did not believe Clinton was looking for a deal in which she would drop out of the race for the Democratic nomination in exchange for Obama's help in retiring her campaign debt.

Clinton campaign strategist Howard Wolfson said such talk was “premature” and that Clinton will be in position to retire her own debt when she wins the Democratic nomination. He said an offer to retire the debt would “absolutely not” affect Clinton's determination to stay in the nomination race. He also said Clinton wasn't staying in the race to try to become the vice presidential candidate on an Obama ticket.

Instead, he said Clinton is in the race to win key upcoming states and to illustrate that she would be the best Democratic candidate to defeat Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the presumptive GOP candidate.