Today on the presidential campaign trail
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IN THE HEADLINES
Obama says President Bush falsely accuses him of appeasement in speech in Israel ... United Steelworkers union endorses Obama for president ... McCain outlines vision that achieves Iraq victory, curbed spending and bipartisanship
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Obama says Bush falsely accuses him of appeasement
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Democrat Barack Obama accused President Bush on Thursday of launching a "false political attack" with a comment about appeasing dictators.
The Illinois senator interpreted the remark as a slam against him but the White House denied that Bush's words were in any way directed at Obama, who has said as president he would be willing to personally meet with Iran's leaders and those of other regimes the United States has deemed rogue.
In a speech to Israel's Knesset, Bush said: "Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.
"We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is _ the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."
Obama responded with a statement, seizing on Bush's remarks even as it was unclear to whom the president was referring.
"It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence to launch a false political attack," Obama said in the statement his aides distributed. "George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the president's extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel."
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United Steelworkers union endorses Obama
WASHINGTON (AP) _ The United Steelworkers union endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president Thursday, which should give the Illinois senator a powerful advocate in attracting the blue-collar workers his campaign has been courting.
The endorsement comes a day after former presidential candidate and Steelworker ally John Edwards endorsed Obama, a key component in the union's decision to go with Obama. The union had earlier endorsed Edwards, who threw his support to Obama on Wednesday night.
"We find ourselves once again in agreement with Senator Edwards, this time with his decision last evening to endorse Senator Barack Obama," the union said in a statement. "And thus today, the United Steelworkers enthusiastically endorses Senator Barack Obama to be the next president of the United States."
The Steelworkers are the second union that endorsed Edwards to now go with Obama. The 200,000-member Transport Workers Union earlier switched and endorsed Obama.
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McCain outlines vision of Iraq victory
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) _ John McCain, looking through a crystal ball to 2013 and the end of a prospective first term, sees "spasmodic" but reduced violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden dead or captured and government spending curbed by his ready veto pen.
The Republican presidential contender also envisions April's annual angst replaced by a simpler flat tax, illegal immigrants living humanely under a temporary worker program, and political partisanship stemmed by weekly news conferences and British-style question periods with joint meetings of Congress.
In a speech Thursday, McCain conceded he cannot make the changes alone, but he wanted to outline a specific governing style to show the accomplishments it can achieve. He was backing up his remarks with a Web ad featuring similar content.
"I'm not interested in partisanship that serves no other purpose than to gain a temporary advantage over our opponents," McCain said in the capital city of Ohio, a general election battleground. "This mindless, paralyzing rancor must come to an end. We belong to different parties, not different countries."
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THE DELEGATE BREAKDOWN
Barack Obama: 1,888
Hillary Rodham Clinton: 1,718
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THE DEMOCRATS
Hillary Rodham Clinton stops in South Dakota and California. Barack Obama has no scheduled campaign events.
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THE REPUBLICANS
John McCain gives a speech in Columbus, Ohio.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"Their patience is at an end for politicians who value ambition over principle, and for partisanship that is less a contest of ideas than an uncivil brawl over the spoils of power." _ Republican John McCain, speaking about Americans' frustrations in a speech.
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STAT OF THE DAY:
A record 2.8 million Kentuckians are registered to vote in the primary election on Tuesday. Of those, 1.6 million are Democrats.
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Compiled by Ann Sanner.