5 top Democrats beat Bush in poll

ALBANY -- The five leading Democratic presidential candidates -- and home state US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton -- top President Bush in support among New York voters, according to a statewide poll released yesterday. The Quinnipiac University Polling Institute found the Republican president's approval rating at 44 percent, up slightly from 42 percent in a similar poll released early last month. Those surveyed favored former Vermont governor Howard Dean over Bush, 48 percent to 44 percent; Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut over the president, 49 percent to 43 percent; Senator John F. Kerry, 50 percent to 42 percent; Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, 49 percent to 43 percent; and retired general Wesley K. Clark 47 percent to 43 percent. Clinton was favored over Bush, 53 percent to 40 percent. Among the active candidates, Lieberman got 17 percent support from Democratic voters followed by Dean at 15 percent, Clark at 12 percent, and Kerry and Al Sharpton at 11 percent each. The other contenders were in single digits. Quinnipiac's telephone poll of 1,304 registered New York voters, conducted Oct. 29-Nov. 3, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The error margin based on the opinions of 483 Democratic voters was plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. (AP)

South Carolina

Former governor gives nod to Clark

COLUMBIA -- Former South Carolina governor Jim Hodges will endorse retired general Wesley K. Clark for president, a Clark campaign spokeswoman said yesterday. A recent poll showed that Clark, who jumped into the crowded Democratic race in September, had surpassed Senator John Edwards of North Carolina among likely voters in the South Carolina primary slated for Feb. 3. Several key state Democrats have yet to endorse any of the nine candidates for the party's nomination, making Hodges' support a coup for the Clark campaign. Clark has made several stops in South Carolina since entering the race in September, part of his strategy to skip the Iowa caucuses. (AP)

Washington, D.C.

Kerry gets back on the air in N.H.

Democratic presidential hopeful John F. Kerry returned to the New Hampshire airwaves with a commercial yesterday, an effort his advisers hope will help him narrow the gap with front-runner Howard Dean. The Massachusetts senator will run the same 30-second ad in New Hampshire that began airing in Iowa last week, said Jim Margolis, Kerry's media consultant. Campaign manager Jim Jordan said the spot will air statewide through Thursday on Manchester stations. The campaign did not purchase airtime in the expensive Boston market that reaches viewers in southern New Hampshire, as it has done in the past. In the ad, Kerry accuses President Bush of being cozy with big business and criticizes him for giving tax cuts to the wealthy. As he has during the campaign, Kerry uses the ad to push for rolling back Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and cracking down on corporate corruption. Polls show Dean leading Kerry by double digits in New Hampshire. Kerry leads Dean in ad spending in that state -- $700,000 to Dean's more than $500,000. (AP)

Michigan

UAW board says no endorsement

DETROIT -- The United Auto Workers' executive board will not endorse a candidate in the Democratic presidential primary, instead leaving that decision to its local organizations, the union said yesterday. The UAW, which has 675,000 active members and another 500,000 retirees, decided at its quarterly board meeting in St. Louis to make no recommendation. The executive board's decision frees up the union's community action groups in 11 regions to endorse the candidate of their choice or follow the board in making no endorsement. UAW president Ron Gettelfinger said the union is not backing a particular candidate because several Democrats would be good choices to run against President Bush. "UAW members and all of America's working families urgently need a strong alternative to the failed policies of the Bush-Cheney administration," he said.(AP)