PHILADELPHIA — Perhaps the analogy was inevitable: Hillary Rodham Clinton as Rocky Balboa, the scrappy underdog boxer from Philadelphia memorably depicted in the 1976 Oscar-winning film. Even if Rocky did lose his first big fight.
Addressing a meeting of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO on Tuesday, the New York senator said that she, like Rocky, wasn’t a quitter.
Recalling a famous scene on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Clinton said to end her presidential campaign now would be as if “Rocky Balboa had gotten halfway up those art museum steps and said, ‘Well, I guess that’s about far enough.’ Let me tell you something: When it comes to finishing a fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common. I never quit. I never give up. And neither do the American people,” Clinton said. She promised the labor group that as president, she would create 3 million new jobs through investments in public infrastructure such as roads and bridges.
Obama turns focus on McCain
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Sen. Barack Obama is talking about the elephant in the room — Republican rival John McCain — and all but ignoring the Democrat who stands between him and his party’s nomination.
Obama criticized the likely Republican nominee’s policies on the U.S. troop presence in Iraq, trade and tax cuts. In his town-hall session Tuesday, Obama sought to frame the race as a general-election matchup between him and McCain.
The extended presidential nomination contest has resulted in an odd political triangle, with each candidate taking alternate turns criticizing one or both of their competitors.
“He’s on a biography tour right now,” Obama said of McCain. “Most of us know his biography, and it’s worthy of our admiration. My argument with John McCain is not with his biography; it’s with his policies.”
Dems expand bloggers’ access for Denver convention
Bloggers will have the chance to report while seated with their delegations, the Democratic National Convention Committee announced Tuesday, expanding the number of independent bloggers to receive the coveted passes into the convention hall in 2008.
Fewer than 40 bloggers were credentialed in 2004. This year, The DNCC will award one credential to a local blogger from each state delegation and from the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, Guam and Democrats abroad.
The deadline for bloggers to apply for credentials is April 15. Applicants must have been blogging for six months and have at least 120 politically related posts. Details are at – credentialing-process.
Back at his high school, McCain fondly recalls 1950s teacher
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Sen. John McCain returned to his high school alma mater Tuesday to reminisce about a teacher who inspired him and stress his support for weeding out the good from the bad in today’s classroom instructors.
“We should reward the best of them with merit pay, and encourage teachers who have lost their focus on the children they teach to find another line of work,” he said at Episcopal High School.
Speaking before an audience composed largely of students, he fondly recalled William B. Ravenel, head of the English department and junior- varsity football coach in the 1950s.
“His influence in my life was more important and more benevolent than that of any person outside my family,” the Republican presidential hopeful said.
