PHOENIX — Democrats have their best chance of gaining control of the state House in more than 40 years if Barack Obama heads the ticket, supporters of the Illinois senator said Monday.

Supporters of the two leading Democrat presidential contenders are making last-minute pushes to line up endorsements in hopes of gaining votes in Tuesday’s presidential preference primary. At the Capitol, Gov. Janet Napolitano led a rally to show off new supporters of Barack Obama. And the Illinois senator picked up the backing of Congressman Raul Grijalva who abandoned his backing of John Edwards, saying Obama has a better chance of winning. But the campaign of Hillary Clinton gained the support of Navajo Nation President Peterson Zah who said she would more likely protect triban sovereignty than Obama. At the Capitol press conference, Napolitano sidestepped questions of whether she would guarantee to complete her term and not take a post in Washington if Obama is elected, saying only it is her “plan” to remain governor through 2010. (Capitol Media Services photo by Howard Fischer)

 Rep. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, said Obama has a broader appeal to moderate Republicans and independents than Hillary Clinton.

 And while voting in the Democrat primary next Tuesday is limited to those registered with each of the two major parties, that’s won’t be the case in November. “The fact is that Barack Obama appeals not just to partisan hacks,’’ added Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, echoing what has become the central theme of the Obama campaign that Clinton represents the old guard.

 The tactic is designed to appeal to Democrats who are tired of being the minority party at the Legislature. The message is that they should support Obama, if not because they believe he is better than Clinton but because it will help change Arizona politics.

 Clinton, speaking by telephone with Arizona reporters Monday, said there is no evidence that somehow she will be bad for the rest of the Democrat ticket. “I have been elected twice in New York, winning in very Republican areas,’’ she said. “Every time I’ve been on the ticket I’ve brought more Democrats with me into Congress and to the state legislature,’’ Clinton continued. “That’s what I intend to do in Arizona and elsewhere.’’

 The claims come as the two top Democrat contenders are making last minute pushes to pick up their share of Arizona’s 67 delegates.

 Obama is coming to Phoenix on Wednesday for what supporters have described as both a rally and town hall style meeting where the candidate will take questions. The campaign has booked the Veterans Memorial Coliseum which lists a seating capacity in excess of 19,000.

 A week earlier, Clinton attracted a reported 10,000 for a speech at Cesar Chavez High School, though only about 2,500 were able to get into the gymnasium.

 How much help the person at the top of the ticket can mean depends on what figures are chosen. In 1996, for example, Bill Clinton actually won Arizona, defeating Republican Bob Dole despite the GOP registration edge in the state. Democrats picked up one seat in the state Senate but remained in the minority of an 18-12 chamber; there was no change in the House where Republicans maintained a 38-22 majority.

 But Gallardo said having incumbent Gov. Janet Napolitano at the top of the ticket two years ago — a non-presidential election year — picked up five House seats for the Democrats, though they still have only 27 out of 60.

 And Gallardo noted that four of the state’s seats in the U.S. House of Representatives now are in Democrat hands, up from a 6-2 split before the 2006 election.

 The last time the Democrats held the House was in the 1960s; they did control the Senate in 1991 and 1992; a 15-15 split a decade later resulted in a power sharing arrangement.

 On Monday, Obama picked up the support of Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy who, in endorsing the Illinois senator, also took a swipe at both Clintons. Kennedy said Obama “will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion’’ and “will close the books on the old politics of race against race, gender against gender, ethnic group against ethnic group and straight against gay.’’

 Clinton defended both her record and that of her husband. “There have been no two people who have stood against that more than we have over many years,’’ she told Arizona reporters. “I certainly am strongly in favor of getting to where our politics can be about the real issues, trying to find common ground,’’ Clinton said. But she said “we also have to stand our ground’’ on important issues.