Clinton says McCain would be more of the same

By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff

ARLINGTON, Va. -- While Hillary Clinton is locked in a tight fight with Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination, the New York senator yesterday kicked off her effort to win Tuesday's Virginia primary by going after the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain.

Speaking several hours after Mitt Romney left the Republican race -- leaving only Mike Huckabee in his longshot effort to overtake McCain -- Clinton sought to contrast her position on the Iraq war with that of the Arizona senator. She said that she wants to "end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home," while she said McCain would continue the war and keep troops there for years to come.

"It appears as though Senator McCain will be the Republican nominee," Clinton said at Washington Lee High School. "I have the greatest respect for the my friend and colleague Senator McCain, but I believe that he offers more of the same."

The audience, sitting just several miles from the Pentagon, cheered and stamped its feet in the bleachers.

Clinton also repeated a charge by Romney that McCain has conceded he doesn't know much about the economy. That is problematic when the US is on the verge of a recession, Clinton said.

"I offer a very different vision of what we can be in America," she said

But Clinton didn't go too far in going after McCain, making a point of calling him "a friend of mine" and recalling that the two of them visited Iraq together.

Clinton did later go after Obama, saying her healthcare plan would cover all Americans, while she said Obama's would not. "This is the difference between Senator Obama and me," she said.

Obama said in a Jan. 31 debate that his plan would cut costs and cover most Americans, saying that “about 95 percent of our plans are similar.” 

Clinton arrived two and a half hours late, a delay that rivaled her husband's famously late arrivals, which led to the phrase "Clinton time." She did not offer any explanation for the delay other than saying she was running behind schedule.