Facebook Stumble Upon del.icio.us Digg Email

NEW YORK — Hillary Rodham Clinton reached out to poor black voters as she and other U.S. presidential candidates tapped into Americans’ recession fears ahead of important races in South Carolina and Nevada.

Both Democratic and Republican races were extremely tight going into the Saturday contests. The Republicans, after three major earlier races that netted three separate winners, lacked a clear front-runner. Polls in Nevada showed Clinton and fellow Democrat Barack Obama locked in a statistical dead heat with rival John Edwards, but Obama could get a boost from a favorable court ruling Thursday.

Campaigning Thursday in the crime-ridden, largely-black city of Compton, California, Clinton pledged that as president she would improve the economic lot of blacks. Days after she and Obama declared a truce on racial matters, Clinton, who wants to be the first female U.S. president, is seeking support from blacks, who were a key constituency for her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

On Thursday, Clinton outlined a so-called “green collar” jobs program she said she will create to develop alternative sources of energy, and said she would spend $200 million (euro136 million) over five years to help ex-offenders transition from prison.

She promised to assist the troubled city’s mayor with his goal of “birthing” a new Compton.
“I know something about birthing,” Clinton said. “You need a president who will be a partner. Who says, ‘What is it I can do to make sure this birth is easy and successful?”‘

Clinton’s comments on economics came as Americans increasingly worry about a possible recession, rising gas prices, falling stock prices and a staggering housing market. A recent CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll found six in 10 Americans believe a recession has already started.

President George W. Bush and congressional leaders are trying to work out an economic stimulus plan likely to include personal tax rebates, tax breaks for businesses and more benefits for the poor. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, joined in calls for an economic stimulus package Thursday, but said it had to be quick and temporary.

The Republican candidates seized on the economy issue as they campaigned in South Carolina, which has been losing textile and steel jobs. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney had touted a similar message in his native Michigan, and it helped propel him to his first win.

With the race so close for the Republicans, the contenders each hope a win in the southern state will provide necessary momentum for the biggest day of the race on Feb. 5, when 22 states hold contests.

Republican John McCain, who won in New Hampshire, has led polls in South Carolina, but has consistently failed to win over conservative and religious party voters who will dominate most of the upcoming Republican contests.

He proposed an economic stimulus plan Thursday that would lower the corporate income tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent, and provide other tax breaks aimed at making U.S. businesses more competitive. Rival Rudy Giuliani, who has focused most of his effort on the Jan. 29 vote in Florida, has also proposed cutting the corporate tax rate to 25 percent.

Romney, a Mormon and millionaire businessman, used an optimistic economic pledge to win in his native state of Michigan, but according to polls has not been able to take the lead on the issue. He said Thursday in South Carolina that Congress should take immediate action on an economic stimulus plan that includes a tax rebate.

Mike Huckabee, the preacher-turned politician who is running on a message of economic populism, put the blame for economic worries on Washington while seeking the votes of South Carolina steel workers.

Republican Fred Thompson, the former “Law and Order” actor who has failed to muster much support in the early nomination contests, was making what could be his last stand in South Carolina. A former senator from the southern state of Tennessee, Thompson is battling Huckabee for the evangelical vote. That group gave Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, his coveted win in Iowa.

Thompson on Thursday made light of Bernanke’s call for a quick economic stimulus and said it might be best to leave the economy alone for now.

In the Democratic contest, race could play a role in breaking the virtual deadlock between Obama, the winner in Iowa who hopes to become the first black U.S. president, and Clinton, who rebounded with her own victory in New Hampshire.

Neither state has large black populations, so the major test of Clinton’s popularity with black voters will come in the Democratic race in South Carolina on Jan. 26, where blacks make up about half of Democratic voters.

Clinton paved the way on Thursday, praising the Rev. Martin Luther King in California in an effort to reconnect with the black community after comments that appeared to downplay the revered civil rights icon’s influence.

Obama and Clinton later called a truce in the controversy, and Clinton offered another olive branch Thursday when asked whether she would consider choosing Obama as her vice presidential running mate.

“I can’t think that far ahead because it’s bad luck, I’m very superstitious, and I don’t want to be presumptuous,” she said. “But he is an extraordinary man and has so much to give our country. I hope however this works out he will be a major figure in American politics for years and years to come.”

In linking economic and racial themes, Clinton appeared to be targeting a group that was among the hardest hit by the mortgage crisis and ensuing credit crunch that has both sparked and fueled U.S. economic woes.

Earlier, she jabbed at Obama, accusing the young Illinois senator in a mailer to voters, of proposing a $1 trillion tax increase with a plan to require high income earners to pay more taxes for Social Security — the national retirement plan that is a touchy subject for the powerful senior citizens lobby.

Obama said in a Las Vegas stop that the worst part about the mailer is that Clinton has said she would consider doing the same thing he wants to do.

Separately, Obama got a boost when a judge in Nevada ruled to allow casino workers from meeting for votes at Las Vegas Strip hotels. Obama has been endorsed by the union representing many of the casino shift workers, and the ruling means those working Saturday would not have to go all the way back to the neighborhoods they live in to be able to attend caucus meetings.

Meanwhile, Obama took a break from campaigning Thursday night to celebrate his wife’s birthday by taking her out to dinner. Advisers declined to say where they would eat, except to say it would just be the two of them.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 18th, 2008 at 3:21 am and is filed under Barack Obama, Fred Thompson, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Nevada, Rudy Giuliani, South Carolina. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.