SELMA, Ala. — Republican John McCain on Monday recalled the bloody beatings of civil-rights marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge as he began a week-long tour of communities that he said suffer from poverty and inattention from presidential candidates.
McCain spoke to a crowd of about 100 people who were mostly white, although, as the campaign noted, Selma’s population is 70 percent black.
Asked about the makeup of the crowd, McCain said: “I am aware the African-American vote has been very small in favor of the Republican Party. I am aware of the challenges, and I am aware of the fact that there will be many people who will not vote for me, but I’m going to be the president of all the people.”
Last year, Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Selma to mark the anniversary of the “Bloody Sunday” march that took place March 7, 1965.
Economy tops Iraq in voter importance
WASHINGTON — The economy has soared past Iraq as the top problem on the minds of voters.
But do the growing economic worries give a particular edge to any presidential candidate? Not so far, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll released Monday.
With growing layoffs, tight credit and an ailing housing market, 67 percent say the economy is an extremely important issue, up from 46 percent in November. Gasoline prices follow close behind at 59 percent. The Iraq war — the dominant issue for several years — stands at 48 percent.
About two-thirds of those making less than $100,000 annually attach extreme importance to the economy, as do nearly six in 10 earning more. Six in 10 Republicans and three-quarters of Democrats do the same.
The survey of 1,844 adults was conducted April 2-14 and had an overall margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points. Included were interviews with 863 Democrats and 668 Republicans, for whom the margins of sampling error were plus or minus 3.3 points and 3.8 points, respectively.
Clinton maintains Pa. lead, polls show
WASHINGTON — Two polls show Hillary Rodham Clinton maintaining her lead over Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential race in Pennsylvania.
A Quinnipiac University poll found Clinton at 51 percent compared with Obama’s 44 percent on Monday, the eve of the Keystone State’s primary. Clinton’s lead is slightly larger in a Suffolk University poll, 52 percent to 42 percent.
The race has remained virtually unchanged in the Quinnipiac poll since April 8, when a surge by Obama stopped. The poll also indicated Clinton has an advantage with women and voters 45 and older, while Obama performed better among men and younger voters.
Twenty percent of respondents in a Suffolk University survey said they would vote for John McCain, the Republican nominee-in-waiting, if their choice fails to win the Democratic nomination.
The Suffolk poll had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. The margin in the Quinnipiac poll was plus or minus 3.1 points.
Richardson’s campaign in debt
WASHINGTON — New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson’s presidential campaign owed debts of about $369,000 at the end of March and had a cash balance of about $10,000, according to the latest federal campaign-finance report. The former Democratic candidate collected $33,095 in March to help retire his campaign debts but refunded about $9,600 of that.
