WASHINGTON — Barack Obama named a three-person team including Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg to lead his search for a running mate yesterday while expressing confidence that the Democratic Party would soon unify after a bruising battle for the presidential nomination.

"I'm very confident of how we're going to be able to bring the party together," Obama said after a brief conversation with Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Campaign officials said Kennedy Schlossberg, daughter of President John F. Kennedy, as well as former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder and longtime Washington insider Jim Johnson have begun compiling information on potential running mates. They disclosed no names.

Obama clinched the Democratic nomination Tuesday. While Clinton is expected to concede defeat Saturday, she and associates have been maneuvering for the past 24 hours to gain her a place on the ticket.

Bob Johnson, founder of the Black Entertainment Network, was among them, and said he was doing so with her blessing.

Johnson said he had written the Congressional Black Caucus asking its members to urge Obama to place Clinton on the ticket.

Also yesterday, a prominent fundraiser for Obama was convicted of fraud, money laundering and bribery.

Antoin "Tony" Rezko, 52, who according to witnesses wielded wide powers within Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration, now faces a stiff prison sentence.

U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said the verdict represented "an antidote to the poison of corruption" that testimony alleged included the fixing of state boards that controlled a $40 billion pension fund and made major decisions about hospital construction.

Rezko has known Obama since he entered politics, raised money for his Illinois campaigns and was involved in a 2005 real estate deal with him. Obama has donated $150,000 in Rezko-related contributions to charity.

Obama is accused of no wrongdoing and his name was barely mentioned at trial. Obama issued a statement saying he was "saddened," adding, "This isn't the Tony Rezko I knew, but now he has been convicted by a jury on multiple charges that once again shine a spotlight on the need for reform."

Blagojevich also was not accused of wrongdoing.