PHOENIX — Gov. Janet Napolitano said Wednesday Barack Obama does not need Hillary Clinton as his running mate to unite the party, even as she sidestepped questions of whether she is a contender.

Napolitano, an Obama supporter for months, said Clinton entered — and apparently leaves — the presidential race with a lot of respect. She said Obama now has to have “his own process’’ to select a vice presidential candidate.

The extended — and at times divisive — primary also resulted in Clinton getting a lot of popular votes. And she actually beat Obama in a number of states the Democrats need in November.

But Napolitano said that doesn’t mean Obama needs Clinton.

“I think the Democrats are going to unite behind Obama almost irrespective of who he chooses,’’ the governor said.

“He’ll look, I’m sure, at a number of possibilities,’’ Napolitano continued. “The Democratic bench is a very deep one.’’

The governor brushed aside some polls which showed that many Clinton supporters would vote for presumptive Republican nominee John McCain if Obama became the Democrat standard bearer.

For example, exit polling done by CNN after the West Virginia primary showed 36 percent of those who voted for Clinton there would back Obama in November. But 35 percent of those who cast ballots for the New York senator said they would be voting for McCain.

In Arizona, there may be some similar feelings, though nowhere near as pronounced: A survey done last year for KAET-TV, long before the state’s February primary that Clinton won, found 61 percent of Clinton supporters said they definitely or likely would back Obama. Another 9 percent said they would probably support McCain, with an additional 8 percent saying they definitely would vote for the Republican.

“I think comments made in the heat of the moment are difficult, if impossible to poll accurately,’’ Napolitano said. “So I don’t put a lot of stock in those polls.’’

And the governor said there is no reason for Clinton supporters — particularly women — to back McCain.

“If you look at McCain’s actual position on issues, particularly issues that resonate with women voters, his positions are 100 degrees opposite of where they are,’’ Napolitano said, including issues of equal pay, subsidized health care for the children of moderate income parents, funding for child care.

The governor did not mention one other potentially hot-button issue: McCain opposes abortion except in cases of rape or incest or to save the life of the mother; Obama opposes a constitutional ban on the procedure.

The governor did not answer a question of whether anyone from the Obama campaign has asked her for biographical information which might be used to screen prospective running mates or other appointments.

“All I say there is, as you all know there’s nothing about my career that’s not already public information, including my financial information,’’ she said.

Nor would Napolitano talk about her own possible interest in being on the ticket.

“I don’t do speculative questions,’’ she said. “As I’ve said before ... I’m interested in being the governor of Arizona.’’ Napolitano did have some advice for Obama now that he is no longer in the hunt for Democrat delegates.

“He’s got to talk now in this race not just to Democrats but independents and moderate Republicans, those who are interested in really changing the direction the issues are taking in Washington,’’ she said.

But Napolitano said that need to expand his base does not mean Obama should simply accept the challenge by McCain to have a series of 10 “town hall’’ style meetings or debates between now and the Democrat convention in August.

“I’m sure there will be debates between Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain at the right time and the right place,’’ Napolitano said. “Whether McCain gets to decide the right place and the format is up to the Obama campaign.’’

Napolitano did have some advice, of sorts, for McCain: Don’t take your home state for granted.

“There are a lot of voters in Arizona who have never voted for him,’’ she said, what with the state’s rapid population growth since his reelection campaign in 2004 as well as the number of people who have turned 18 since then.

She cited a recent Behavior Research Center survey which showed McCain with just an 11-point lead among Arizona voters questioned, “which is really an astoundingly close number when you consider is the home state senator.’’