Giuliani, Clinton eschew politics on a day of grief, remembrance
NEW YORK - Presidential politics took a back seat to grief and remembrance yesterday, as candidates from both parties observed the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Under gloomy gray skies, two presidential hopefuls - Republican Rudy Giuliani and Democrat Hillary Clinton - attended a somber ceremony near ground zero. It was led by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York, another potential White House contender.
Giuliani, the former New York mayor whose leadership following the attacks catapulted him to among the top of the GOP field, delivered brief remarks just after a bell was rung to commemorate the collapse of the World Trade Center's South Tower.
"In the midst of our great grief and turmoil, we also witnessed uncompromising strength and resilience as a people," Giuliani said.
Clinton, a New York senator, did not speak at the ceremony and left shortly after it began to return to Washington for Senate business. In a statement, she said, "Today is a solemn occasion, to keep in our prayers the men and women who lost their lives and their families."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thompson low-key on faith
Republican presidential contender Fred Thompson, who is basing his campaign on an appeal to conservative voters, says he isn't a regular churchgoer and doesn't plan to speak about his religion on the stump.
Thompson, in his first campaign stop in South Carolina, told a crowd of about 500 Republicans that he gained his values from "sitting around the kitchen table" with his parents and "the good Church of Christ."
The former senator from Tennessee later told reporters that his church attendance varies. "I attend church when I'm in Tennessee. I'm in McLean right now," he said referring to the Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C., where he lives with his wife, Jeri, and their two young children. "I don't attend regularly when I'm up there."
Thompson's remarks may not play well with some religious voters who represent a sizable segment of the Republican Party and whose support he has been courting, portraying himself as a "common-sense conservative."
BLOOMBERG
A mixed bag for Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani has been well ahead of his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, but he is far weaker in the crucial states that will cast early votes in the nominating process next year, according to a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll that underscores how unsettled the GOP race remains.
Giuliani trails Mitt Romney in Iowa and New Hampshire among Republican voters, and he lags behind Fred Thompson in South Carolina, according to the poll. But Giuliani is only a few points behind in New Hampshire and South Carolina - within the poll's margin of error.
Among Democrats in those three states, by contrast, the race is more firmly settled: The poll indicated that Senator Hillary Clinton has consolidated her lead on a sturdy foundation of support among women, blacks, and in some states, labor union households, while her rivals so far have not made the inroads they need to cut into her lead.
The poll was based on a survey of registered voters who planned to vote in the three early primaries or caucuses. It was conducted Sept. 6-10, just after Thompson officially announced that he was running. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 5 percentage points; among Iowa Democrats it was 4 percentage points.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Edwardses get cooking
Elizabeth meet Rachael. Rachael meet Elizabeth.
In the latest journey of the presidential campaign into the world of television talk shows, Elizabeth Edwards will appear today on Rachael Ray's daytime program.
Edwards will talk about the 30th anniversary of her wedding to John, the former North Carolina senator seeking the Democratic nomination, the lessons she has taught her children, and what she does to relax, the Edwards campaign said.
Ray, the celebrity cook and Dunkin' Donuts hawker, will also join the Edwardses and their children for a peek at life on the campaign trail in Iowa.
In recent weeks, Democrat Barack Obama has appeared on Oprah Winfrey's show, and Hillary Clinton had guest shots with David Letterman and Ellen DeGeneres. Republican Fred Thompson officially launched his presidential bid last week on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."
FOON RHEE 