Clinton courts union support By JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press Writer

Clinton courts union support By JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press Writer
35 minutes ago



HOUSTON - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, continuing her efforts to secure the endorsement of unions, told a crowd of nearly 1,100 people at a labor hall Saturday that she will fight to help the middle class if elected.

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"Nobody works harder than Americans. Wages aren't up. Benefits aren't secure. But corporate profits are up. It's not the rich who made America great. It's the hard working middle class," Clinton said as the crowd at the Communications Workers of America hall cheered.

While Clinton's nearly half-hour speech touched on a variety of issues, including the war in Iraq, lessening America's dependence on foreign oil and offering more support for the country's police officers and military veterans, the New York senator's comments focused mainly on her support of the working middle class and the labor movement.

"This is a house that labor built," she said. "The American middle class owes a lot to the labor movement."

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CONWAY, N.H. (AP) — Frustration over illegal immigration followed Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Saturday as he finished a three-day campaign trip to eastern New Hampshire.

At a VFW hall in Conway, a woman who had questioned the Arizona senator the night before in Wolfeboro confronted him again, pushing him to support making English the nation's official language.

"I'm terribly concerned there's real danger we're going to lose our country from within," said the woman, who refused to give her name. "Even if we make English the national language, what difference does it make if you can vote (in Spanish), if where everywhere you go, the hospitals are obliged to provide interpreters? We need one language."

McCain said he believes more must be done to require immigrants to learn English, but addressed her suspicions with some of his trademark straight talk.

"I understand your concern that our traditions and our culture and background are being overwhelmed by another culture, but I believe we're stronger than that," he said.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards lashed out Saturday against the suggestion by President Bush's new war adviser that it is worth considering a return to a military draft.

The adviser, Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, suggested Friday in an interview with National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" that a draft might relieve the frequent tours for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan that have stressed the all-volunteer force.

Edwards, a former North Carolina senator said that Lute's remarks show "the true danger of the administration's breathtaking failures in Iraq and around the world," according to a campaign statement.

"Now, instead of ending this war and doing what is right for our troops, their families and the nation, President Bush is floating the idea of a draft that would send more young Americans to Iraq," Edward said.

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AMES, Iowa (AP) — The wife of GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul was hospitalized Saturday with an irregular heartbeat, a campaign spokesman said.

Carol Paul became ill on Saturday morning and was taken to an area hospital, said Jesse Benton, a Paul spokesman. A Republican congressman from Texas, Paul was delayed in arriving at the high profile Republican straw poll in Ames on Saturday in order to stay with his wife.

Benton told The Associated Press that Mrs. Paul was recovering at a hospital in Des Moines from a heart condition that causes her heart rate to get very slow.

"Her heart rate is back to normal and she is doing much better and she will make a full recovery," he said.

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CHICAGO (AP) — Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama on Saturday served as grand marshal of the annual Bud Billiken Parade, an event founded in 1929 by the Chicago Defender newspaper to celebrate area children.

Before the parade began, Obama said he was glad to be on the South Side.

"Everybody here has looked after me for years," Obama said.

Asked if participating in the parade was part of a strategy to court black voters, Obama said, "This is my crew. I don't worry about them. We're doing fine."

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BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said Saturday that the party will launch an unprecedented "voter protection" effort to try to avoid election irregularities like those seen in Florida in 2000 and alleged in Ohio in 2004.

"We're going to spot trouble before it happens this time, instead of wait for trouble and then respond when it happens," said Dean, a former Vermont governor.

Some 200 party staffers in the various states will be surveying county election officials in the coming months to find out their rules for checking voter identification, how many voting machines they have in each precinct, and other nut-and-bolts issues related to election administration, Dean said.

The party also will have a team of 7,000 volunteer lawyers around the country ready to go to work on Election Day to defend voters who say they are being improperly barred from casting ballots.

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Associated Press writers Holly Ramer in Concord, N.H., David Gram in Burlington, Vt., and Dan Strumpf in Chicago contributed to this report.