HOUSTON -- On the night that Barack Obama gathered the majority of the pledged delegates needed to garner the Democratic nomination for president, two political heavyweights – one a Republican and one a Democrat – said Obama should consider reaching out to Hillary Clinton to create a possibly unbeatable “dream ticket.”

Former White House Chief of Staff and U.S. Secretary of State James Baker and former President Jimmy Carter were unanimous in suggesting that the Democrats' best chance of taking the White House this fall would be to have Obama and Clinton join forces.

"Don't think that it can't be done after a bruising primary. When [President Ronald] Reagan chose (George) Bush it was only because he had to,” said Baker, who was a part of both the Reagan and Bush administrations.

Carter was quick to agree, noting that Obama’s biggest weakness is his lack of experience.

"Obama has, I think, a disadvantage of not having the kind of experience that John McCain has, and that puts a tremendous responsibility on him to choose a running mate that could add some of that substantiality,” said the former President.

Baker and Carter went on to talk about the needs for election reform in the United States. Their comments were part of a panel discussion prior to the screening of “Recount,” a movie starring Kevin Spacey and Laura Dern that chronicles the 36 days after the election in November and December of 2000, and the vote recount in Florida.

The screening was held at The Baker Institute at Rice University on Tuesday.

Spacey stars as Democratic lawyer Ron Klain, Dern as Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris and Tom Wilkinson as James Baker.

Baker said the film is an honest depiction of the events in Florida.

Carter and Baker served years later on a commission for election reform in the United States. None of that commission's 83 recommendations has been fully instituted, but both say the country is in better shape than in either of the last two election cycles.