Clinton unveils new stimulus package and leads poll
TERRE HAUTE, Indiana (Reuters) - Democratic presidentialcandidate Hillary Clinton unveiled a second economic stimuluspackage on Thursday as a new poll showed her maintaining herlead over Barack Obama among Democrats.
With surveys showing the economy the top issue on voters'minds, Clinton called for new steps to address a deepeninghousing crisis, including a $30 billion emergency fund to helpstates buy foreclosed properties and provide mortgagerestructuring.
Clinton overtook Obama in a daily Gallup tracking pollearlier this week and the latest survey showed her leading theIllinois senator 49 percent to 42 percent in the contest toselect the Democratic nominee to face Republican Sen. JohnMcCain in November.
The poll was a snapshot of current popular feeling, butClinton trails Obama in the state-by-state contest fordelegates that began in January. The nominees are formallychosen by delegates at the parties' conventions in the summer.
Obama, who would be America's first black president, istrying to rebound after a rocky patch. He delivered a majorspeech this week on race relations in an effort to explain hisrelationship with his long-time Chicago pastor, the Rev.Jeremiah Wright.
Obama condemned some of Wright's statements, such as hisassertion the September 11 attacks were retribution for U.S.foreign policy and that the U.S. government intentionallyinfected blacks with the AIDS virus. But he refused todisassociate himself from the preacher, who he said had donegreat things for his Chicago community.
Much of the skirmishing on the campaign trail on Thursdaysurrounded the North American Free Trade Agreement. Campaigningin Indiana, Clinton, a New York senator, said she was neverenthusiastic about NAFTA despite records that showed she helpedher husband's drive to gain its passage.
The accord is deeply unpopular among Democrats in "RustBelt" states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, which holds the nextnominating contest on April 22, because it led to the loss ofmanufacturing jobs.
Both Clinton and Obama have vowed to renegotiate the dealif elected to the White House.
While Clinton has talked of long being sceptical of NAFTA,daily schedules of her time as first lady showed on Wednesdaythat she spoke at an event in 1993 aimed at rallying supportfor the accord.
"I have spoken consistently against NAFTA and the way it'sbeen implemented. At the time ... I spoke out about theconcerns that I had about NAFTA," Clinton said.
'PARSING WORDS'
The Obama camp was sceptical. "Misrepresenting yourposition and carefully parsing your words when you don't thinkyou'll get caught are the hallmarks of the kind of politicsthat Barack Obama is running to change," his campaign said.
McCain leads both Democrats in a hypothetical matchup ofthe general election, according to the Gallup poll and aReuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday. But such early pollshave little significance when the election is still more thanseven months away.
In Charleston, West Virginia, Obama said the $500 billioncost of the Iraq war was a drag on the U.S. economy andattempted to lay some of the blame for it on McCain.
He used a large portion of his speech to try to connectMcCain to President George W. Bush, accusing McCain of wantinga "permanent occupation in Iraq."
"No matter what the costs, no matter what the consequences,John McCain seems determined to carry out a third Bush term,"Obama said.
McCain communications director Jill Hazelbaker said Obama'sstatements showed he was wrong on both the economy and U.S.national security.
Obama was offering "the tired tax and spend ideas of thepast" while promoting "an irresponsible policy of withdrawingour troops from Iraq without regard for the conditions on theground," she said.
(Additional reporting by Matthew Bigg in Charleston, AdrianCroft in London and David Morgan in Washington; Writing bySteve Holland; Editing by Alan Elsner)
(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visitReuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online athttp://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)