Obama, Clinton underscore turmoil of the nation's economy

MONACA, Pa. - Barack Obama said yesterday the economy is in distress, while Democratic rival Hillary Clinton said President Bush failed to exercise leadership to address the nation's economic problems.

"Our economy is in a shambles," Obama said at a town hall meeting at a community college near Pittsburgh. "This economy is contracting; it is heading toward recession. We probably already are in one."

Clinton told reporters in Washington: "Now we are in the soup, and we better get ourselves out of it before the consequences get drastic. . . . At these times of stress and uncertainty we need to be vigilant to do everything in our power to maintain confidence in our financial system."

Both Democrats said the fire sale buyout of venerable investment firm Bear Stearns proves their point that mortgage industry problems are spilling onto Wall Street and are also hurting business and families on Main Street.

Republican John McCain's campaign issued a statement praising the Federal Reserve for helping shore up the financial sector and broker the sale of Bear Stearns.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Could the Ralph Nader nightmare be happening again to Democrats?

Nader's just-starting presidential campaign bragged yesterday about a poll released over the weekend that showed he would get 6 percent of the vote in a three-way race with Republican John McCain (45 percent) and Democrat Hillary Clinton (39 percent), and would get 5 percent in a contest with McCain (44 percent) and Democratic rival Barack Obama (39 percent).

Nader's support is enough to make a difference, according to Zogby International, which conducted the survey March 13 and 14. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

"Nader's presence in the race can potentially turn a lulu of a race into an absolute tizzy," pollster John Zogby said in a statement. "The messages to Democrats are clear - number one, Nader may win enough support to get into the general election debates. Number two, what could be at risk is support among several key constituencies that the Democratic Party candidate will need to win in November, notably younger voters, independents, and progressives."

Nader said he is running again this year because Clinton and Obama don't offer a clean enough break from business-dominated politics.

FOON RHEE

WASHINGTON - The road to the Democratic nomination for president got easier yesterday - by one delegate.

The number of delegates needed to secure the Democratic nomination fell to 2,024 because of several changes among superdelegates, the Democratic National Committee said. The highest-profile change was the resignation of Governor Eliot Spitzer, who left office in New York yesterday over his involvement in a prostitution ring. Spitzer was a superdelegate who endorsed Hillary Clinton. His successor, David Paterson, is a Clinton superdelegate as an at-large DNC member.

The delegate roster now stands at 4,047 delegates, including 794 superdelegates. Clinton led Barack Obama with 249 superdelegates to 213, but trailed overall with Obama at 1,617 delegates and Clinton at 1,498, according to the latest Associated Press count.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK - President Bill Clinton pushed back yesterday against criticism that he fanned racial tension while campaigning for his wife in South Carolina.

In an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America" broadcast yesterday, Clinton said he had gotten a "bum rap" from the news media after he compared Barack Obama's landslide victory in South Carolina's Jan. 26 primary to Jesse Jackson's wins in the state in 1984 and 1988. Clinton was widely criticized for appearing to cast Obama as little more than a black candidate popular in a state with a heavily black electorate.

ASSOCIATED PRESS