Former President Jimmy Carter voiced support for, but did not quite endorse, Barack Obama in an interview published Wednesday in the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph.

Carter, who reportedly was to begin a campaign to knock Hillary Clinton out of the race, told the newspaper that the Democratic primary battle should end once the final contests are held June 3, and hinted that Obama should be the clear victor at that point.

"I don't see any reason at all to continue after June 3 when we know who got the most (pledged) delegates, who got the most popular votes, who won the most states and so forth," Carter said.

Obama maintains a wide lead over Clinton in pledged delegates and states won, and still holds the lead in the popular vote.

Carter also said it would be "undemocratic" if superdelegates overturned the pledged delegate decision, something that would likely have to happen for Clinton to win the nomination unless the discounted Florida and Michigan primaries are somehow counted. Clinton won those contests.

Carter recently visited Hamas leaders in Syria and Egypt and told National Public Radio on Tuesday that the United States and Israel declared Hamas a terrorist organization in 2006 only after it won a majority of seats in parliamentary elections. Hamas was added to the State Department list of foreign terrorist organizations in 1993.

He suggested in the British paper that Obama's inaugural address should disavow torture and preemptive war.

"It would transform the image of the United States in the minds of many people around the world," he said.

Click here to read the full article in The Daily Telegraph.