Clinton's non-committal response to Fed

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speaks with veterans Wednesday, March 19, 2008, at the American Legion in Huntington, W.Va. (AP Photo/Mark Webb)

PHILADELPHIA—Hillary Rodham Clinton won't second guess the Federal Reserve's recent dramatic action to shore up confidence in financial markets. But she doesn't exactly support it, or oppose it, for that matter.

Instead, her position seemed to evolve over a series of comments in recent days after the Fed presided over the sale of Bear Stearns to JPMorgan Chase, assumed $30 billion in risk of some of the old Bear Stearns investments and cut a key interest rate

On Monday morning, hours after the Fed acted, she called a news conference to address the developments. "I'm not going to second guess the Fed either on their movement to get the sale consummated and to back up the JPMorgan Chase commitment or to cut the discount rate," she said.

The next day, at a news conference in Philadelphia, a reporter asked whether she was still satisfied.

"I would not use the word satisfied," she responded.

Then, one day after declining to second guess the Fed, she said, "As I've said yesterday, I think the Fed and the Treasury had to step in in their view to try to stop that one company from totally failing and send a message to try to rebuild some confidence in the markets."

Asked a few moments later why she wasn't willing to endorse the Fed's actions, she replied, "I have said that they did what they had to do with Bear Stearns."

Pressed once more why she wasn't willing to join fellow New York Sen. Chuck Schumer in supporting the moves, she said, "I don't think that there was a choice. So doing the right thing when there is no choice -- you can call it the right thing," she said.

".... So did they do the right thing? Under the circumstances, they didn't have a choice."

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It seems a safe bet that the words "Puerto Rico primary" and "politically important" have never before fit comfortably in the same sentence.

But 55 Democratic National Convention delegates will be at stake in a primary on June 1, a large prize in the closest and most competitive primary campaign in memory.

With the contest approaching, Clinton recently issued a series of proposals that aides said could cost as much as $1 billion, much of it aimed at improving health care services for residents of the island.

They include plans to increase spending on Medicaid, which aides the poor, as well as Medicare, which provides health care for senior citizens. The campaign said Clinton's call for universal health care would mean coverage for approximately 500,000 Puerto Ricans who now lack it.

The former first lady said she favors reinstatement of lapsed federal tax benefits to stimulate job creation at a time when Puerto Rico has double-digit unemployment. She also wants to make lower-income workers with children eligible for tax breaks that currently are available only in the 50 states.

She also pledged to restore funding for additional law enforcement.

The overriding issue in Puerto Rico has long been a debate over the island's future political status, either statehood, independence, commonwealth status or some other alternative.

On that, Clinton and Obama are in agreement -- they will try to let Puerto Ricans finally settle the matter, but won't express an opinion on the outcome.

Clinton "strongly believes that Puerto Rico should have the status that a majority of its people want from among all of the options," her statement said. It said she "will enable the issue to be resolved during her first term."

Obama, too, wants Puerto Ricans to settle the issue themselves.

"He will actively engage Congress and the Puerto Rican people in promoting this deliberative, open, and unbiased process that may include a constitutional convention or a plebiscite," said his spokesman, Bill Burton.

"An Obama administration will adhere to a policy of strict neutrality on Puerto Rican status matters. It will recognize all valid options to resolve the question of Puerto Rico's status, including commonwealth, statehood, and independence."

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Forget that White House thing. It's March Madness time, and Barack Obama is going to the line to take his best shot.

The Democratic presidential hopeful, who's been known to shoot hoops along the way in his presidential campaign, predicts North Carolina will win the NCAA championship in a title game victory over UCLA.

His other picks for the Final Four were Kansas and Pittsburgh, according to a tournament bracket that he filled in.

Clinton laughed this week when asked what her predictions were for the NCAA basketball tournament.

She said she would need to consult with her basketball adviser -- her husband.