Hillary Clinton declared herself the candidate of middle class Americans as she struggled to hold off a hard-charging Barack Obama in upcoming Democratic contests in the industrial heartland that could determine the fate of her presidential campaign.
But it was Obama who collected a key labor union endorsement on Friday, at the same time he criticized his rival for supporting legislation harmful to workers such as the North American Free Trade Agreement.
In the Republican race, John McCain, the party's presumptive nominee, is to receive an endorsement from former President George H.W. Bush tomorrow, Republican officials said. The officials spoke on Friday on condition of anonymity because the formal announcement is next week.
PHOTO: AP
The former president's endorsement, which follows one from ex-Florida Governor Jeb Bush, is a further nudge by Republican chieftains for conservative activists to get over their distaste for McCain and for former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to quit the race.
Clinton has relied on working-class Democrats for much of her support in six weeks of presidential primary contests across the country and is counting on them to pull her through upcoming high-stakes primaries in Wisconsin on Tuesday, Ohio and Texas on March 4 and Pennsylvania on April 22.
The former first lady and New York senator is running a three-pronged strategy. She is honing a tough new populist message, she is sharpening her criticism of Obama and she is presenting herself as the candidate who is better schooled in the intricacies of government policy.
Clinton declared herself the "candidate of, from and for the middle class of America" as she discussed a variety of economic issues during a round-table discussion in Cincinnati, Ohio.
She then left her audience with what is becoming her standard anti-Obama line.
"This primary election offers a very big choice to the voters of Ohio," she said. "You can choose speeches or solutions."
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not