Obama goes to N.C. to meet with Edwards
Barack Obama made an unannounced trip to North Carolina yesterday to meet with former rival John Edwards, who has yet to make an endorsement in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Officials at a North Carolina television station said they have video of Obama leaving Edwards's home in Chapel Hill. A producer said the station received a tip about the meeting.
Obama's campaign confirmed the meeting. Although reporters normally travel with Obama, he left them behind in Chicago to fly down in secret.
"Senator Obama visited this morning with John and Elizabeth Edwards at their home in Chapel Hill to discuss the state of the campaign and the pressing issues facing American families," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. He would not comment on the possibility of an endorsement.
People close to the Edwardses, speaking privately, said they have been torn about whom to support.
None of the other former Democratic presidential candidates - Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, Bill Richardson or Dennis Kucinich - have endorsed Obama or Clinton, reflecting the party's split over who would be the best president.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"It's up to you," he told about 800 people inside the gymnasium of a Toledo high school.
Clinton also said his wife is the only candidate with the ideas to help a state like Ohio, which has been hit hard by home foreclosures and the loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs.
The senator from New York is trying to rebound from eight consecutive losses to her rival, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, including several by lopsided margins, and she is looking for wins in the Ohio and Texas primaries on March 4 to give her campaign a boost.
Hillary Clinton has proposed a plan to freeze home foreclosures for 90 days. She also wants to encourage investment in renewable energy sources, which would benefit Ohio farmers who grow crops for biofuels, and would create jobs statewide, her husband said.
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Campaigning before tomorrow's Democratic primary in Wisconsin, a state with a strong tradition of hunting and where many voters strongly support gun ownership rights, Clinton said she backed the right to bear arms.
"You know, you may not believe it but I've actually gone hunting," Clinton, 60, said at a question-and-answer session with voters at a bratwurst restaurant in Kenosha on Saturday.
"My father taught me to shoot 100 years ago," she said.
The topic came up when a voter asked Clinton what she would do to prevent shootings such as the one at Northern Illinois University on Thursday in which a gunman killed five students before taking his own life. Clinton said steps should be taken to make sure that those with criminal backgrounds or a history of mental illness do not get access to guns.
REUTERS 