Election Watch

Poll: Clinton Fades in Ohio

02.26.08 -- 8:07 AM

With just a week to go until the crucial March 4 Democratic Presidential Primaries, Barack Obama continues to gain ground on Hillary Clinton in Ohio.

The latest Rasmussen Reports poll shows Clinton earning 48% of the Ohio Democratic Presidential Primary vote. That’s unchanged from a week ago. Barack Obama’s support has grown to 43%. That’s up from 40% last week and 38% the week before.

Overall, Clinton’s lead is now just five percentage points in Ohio, down from an eight-point advantage last week and fourteen points two weeks ago.

Clinton Defends Husband on Racial Issues

02.24.08 -- 7:37 AM

By BETH FOUHY - AP

Hillary Rodham Clinton strongly defended her husband's record on civil rights Saturday at a forum in which she acknowledged "painful moments" in a presidential contest pitting the first woman candidate against a pioneering black contender.

At the annual State of the Black Union conference hosted by PBS's Tavis Smiley, Clinton pushed back hard on the notion that Bill Clinton had inflamed racial tensions while campaigning for her in the run-up to South Carolina's primary last month.

The former president - once so popular among black voters he was dubbed the first black president by novelist Toni Morrison - harshly criticized Barack Obama in South Carolina, producing a backlash among blacks that helped lead to his wife's crushing defeat there.

After that primary, the former president angered many by suggesting Obama had won the state simply because he was a black candidate campaigning in a state with a large number of black voters. Since then, Clinton has badly lost the black vote to Obama in every primary or caucus - including Louisiana's earlier this month.

Obama Cautions Road Ahead Is Still Tough

02.20.08 -- 2:36 AM

By Nedra Pickler - AP

Barack Obama welcomed his latest Democratic presidential primary triumph with a caution to exultant supporters Tuesday that they've all got "months and miles" to go and it won't be easy.

Obama addressed a boisterous rally in Houston on Tuesday night after defeating Hillary Rodham Clinton in Wisconsin for his ninth straight win. He looked for another boost later in the night in Hawaii, the state of his birth.

Obama almost literally stole the spotlight from his rival, beginning his speech before she had finished hers in Ohio. Cable networks cut away from her to the man now clearly the front-runner.

Chelsea Clinton Steps on Political Stage

02.17.08 -- 7:30 AM

By PHILIP ELLIOTT- AP

Chelsea Clinton tells students about her mother's plans for the economy and mortgages. The former first daughter outlines Hillary Rodham Clinton's concern about Darfur and women's rights. She ticks through talking points on electability, health care and the environment.

Oh, and she reveals her mother wants grandkids and her father builds their schedule around a popular TV drama, "Grey's Anatomy."

Chelsea Clinton has emerged as a top surrogate for her mother as the former first lady has fallen behind Sen. Barack Obama in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Obama, McCain Sweep Potomac Primaries

02.12.08 -- 7:24 PM

By Jennifer Parker - ABC News

On a primary winning streak, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has swept the so-called Potomac primaries today, overwhelming defeating Senator Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., in Democratic contests in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, won primaries in Maryland and Washington, D.C. and battled back insurgent candidate Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, in a Virginia primary made close by a high turnout among conservatives and Christian evangelicals.

"Today, the change we seek swept through the Chesapeake and over the Potomac. We won the state of Maryland. We won the Commonwealth of Virginia. And though we won in Washington D.C., this movement won't stop until there's change in Washington," Obama told supporters at a rally in Madison, Wisconsin tonight.

Clinton Has Lead With Party Insiders

02.10.08 -- 10:32 PM

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER and JIM KUHNHENN -Associated Press

Hillary Rodham Clinton retains her lead among suddenly critical Democratic Party insiders even as Barack Obama builds up his delegate margin with primary and caucus victories across the country, according to a survey by The Associated Press.

Of the 796 lawmakers, governors and party officials who are Democratic superdelegates, Clinton had 243 and Obama had 156. That edge was responsible for Clinton's overall advantage in the pursuit of delegates to secure the party's nomination for president. According to the AP's latest tally, Clinton has a total of 1,136 delegates and Obama has 1,108, following Obama's victory Sunday in Maine's caucuses. A candidate must get 2,025 delegates to capture the nomination.

The numbers illustrate not only the remarkable proximity between the two candidates, but also the extraordinary influence superdelegates could wield in determining who becomes the nominee. Both campaigns are aggressively pursuing superdelegates, trumpeting their endorsements the moment they are secured.

McCain Proclaims Himself Front-Runner

02.06.08 -- 6:30 AM

By Libby Quaid - Associated Press

Sen. John McCain traded in his underdog persona to claim the mantle of front-runner, rolling up a series of Super Tuesday victories in the Republican race for president.

"I've never minded the role of the underdog, and relished more than anyone come-from-behind wins," McCain told a boisterous crowd in his home state. "But tonight, I think we must get used to the idea that we are the Republican Party front-runner."

As supporters cheered, he added: "And I don't really mind it one bit."

McCain's victories included New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arizona, his home. He captured the biggest prize, California.

Obama expands lead on Clinton in California

02.04.08 -- 5:29 PM

By Steve Holland - Reuters

Republican presidential candidates John McCain and Mitt Romney argued on Monday over who is the real conservative with their battle headed toward a Super Tuesday climax.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, sought to stir discontent among conservatives who are skeptical about Arizona Sen. McCain's record of having voted against President George W. Bush's tax cuts and his moderate views on illegal immigration.

"A lot of people said it is going to be a very easy race for Senator McCain. But across the country conservatives have come together and said, 'You know what, we don't want Senator McCain. We want a conservative to be in the White House'," Romney told supporters in Nashville.

Clinton, Obama in dead heat ahead of big vote

02.03.08 -- 11:56 AM

By David Wiessler - Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were locked in a near dead heat two days before the biggest presidential voting so far while John McCain tried to nail down the Republican nomination for the White House.

With 24 states holding nominating contests on Tuesday, the candidates spent their Sundays appearing on the morning television talk shows and campaigning across the country as polls showed the two races going in opposite directions.

The Democratic race, which Clinton once led handily, had narrowed to a nearly a draw in recent national polls.

McCain Faces Questions About His Age

01.29.08 -- 7:13 AM

By Libby Quaid - Associated Press

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain is asked constantly about his 71 years on earth. First, he responded with jokes. Now, he talks about judgment.

In the early days of his campaign, McCain kidded: "I'm older than dirt, more scars than Frankenstein."

Today, with the race at a critical stage, the Arizona senator puts kidding aside.

"I can out-campaign anybody that's running because I love it. It invigorates me," McCain told a town hall meeting Saturday in Fort Myers, Fla.

"Seriously, can I say, right now, we need judgment," McCain said. "We need judgment. We live in a very, very dangerous and challenging world. I've been involved in every major national security issue facing this country, including having the pride of raising my hand at age 17 that I would support and defend the Constitution of the United States."

These days, instead of joking, McCain is more likely to urge people to meet his 95-year-old mother, Roberta. "Last Christmas, she wanted to drive around France. So she flew to Paris and tried to rent a car. They said she was too old, so she bought one and drove around France."

The questions are posed again and again because of McCain's age and his three bouts with melanoma, an aggressive and potentially deadly form of skin cancer. It came up Saturday in a newspaper endorsement from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Despite its approval, the newspaper said, "we also have concerns about Mr. McCain's age (he will be 72 at the time of the Republican convention) and his health. ... That would make his choice of a running mate a matter of even greater national concern."

If elected, McCain would be the oldest man to become president of the United States; Ronald Reagan was 69 when he took office in 1981.

In Florida, site of Tuesday's GOP primary and home of the country's highest concentration of people 65 and older, many did not care about his age.

"If you can take the haul of a campaign, you can probably manage the White House," said Nancy Swallow, 72, a McCain supporter from Lake Wales. "I think anybody has got to be off their rocker to run for president, because it's a horrible, grueling thing to do."

McCain is known for his vigor and quick wit. From the moment he boards his campaign bus for 12 hours or longer, McCain is in campaign mode. He answers questions from voters at freewheeling town hall meetings. Between stops, he usually fields questions and banters with reporters on his bus.

"Nobody does this. He's amazing that way," said Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who wedged himself into the horseshoe-shaped space at the back of McCain's bus on Saturday for an hour and a half. McCain took questions the entire time.

The 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee and now an independent who has endorsed McCain, Lieberman said he sometimes could not help but doze between events.

Aides try to force McCain to take breaks, but aside from an occasional nap on a plane, McCain almost never rests. "Can't they have a slice of pizza?" he implored an aide trying to usher reporters off the bus after his final campaign event Saturday.

McCain stays active outside politics, too. He exercises and hiked the Grand Canyon last summer.

Still, he bears obvious signs of his age, though his face is less wrinkled and lacks the jowls of some younger men. Age spots are visible on his hands, featured prominently in his portrait on the cover of last week's Time magazine. The left side of his face bears a scar and swelling from his cancer.

McCain's movements - walking, using his arms - show signs of a battle he fought long before the melanoma. A Navy fighter pilot captured by the Vietnamese when his plane went down over Hanoi in 1967, McCain broke both arms and hurt his right knee. The injuries were never properly cared for and worsened by torture during his more than five-year imprisonment.

As a result, McCain has a slight limp, cannot raise his arms above his head and has arthritis.

Exhaustive health records were made available during McCain's first campaign for president in 2000, and his campaign intends to make updated records available. McCain aides said he has been cancer-free for more than five years, although McCain, like all cancer survivors, faces a risk of recurrence.

McCain's doctors consider him to be in excellent health, according to a medical summary his campaign provided last week says. The report said McCain currently takes the cholesterol drug Vytorin, baby aspirin and a multivitamin, and occasionally allergy medicines.

Despite his tirelessness, McCain seemed weary of yet more questions about his age on Saturday on his campaign bus. He tried to bring the issue around to his judgment.

But how old does he feel?

"I'm continuously surprised that I'm on this earth, and so are people who know my life," McCain said. "I have been the most fortunate person that has ever lived. OK? I am the most fortunate person that you will ever know. I've survived in situations that defy all odds. So I am grateful for every single day, and I know that you can't ever live those days over again.

"And I am grateful for the opportunity to serve. That's why you see my line that I use very often - I'd like to serve a little while longer."

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