Clinton presents a plan aimed at keeping jobs

Clinton presents a plan aimed at keeping jobs

PITTSBURGH — Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton is proposing $7 billion a year in tax incentives to encourage U.S. companies not to ship jobs overseas.

At an economic summit in Pittsburgh on Wednesday organized by her presidential campaign, the former first lady proposed the elimination of tax breaks for companies that move jobs to other countries and would use the savings to persuade companies to “insource” jobs in the U.S.

Clinton has focused on job creation and challenges to the U.S. economy at campaign appearances across Pennsylvania, whose primary is April 22.

Clinton’s plan would offer new tax benefits for research and job development. It would also create “innovation and research clusters” across the country and provide $500 million annually in investments to encourage the creation of high-wage jobs in clean energy.

Obama tells unions he’ll oppose NAFTA deals

PHILADELPHIA — Barack Obama told Pennsylvania unions Wednesday that he will fight the type of trade deals struck by the Clinton and Bush administrations.

Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton portrayed themselves as labor’s best friend as they campaigned in Pennsylvania, where 830,000 union voters are expected to have a strong say in the state’s April 22 primary. At stake are 158 delegates.

Obama and Clinton have spent weeks arguing over which one of them did or didn’t oppose the North American Free Trade Agreement, a deal with Mexico and Canada that was struck during Bill Clinton’s presidency.

Meanwhile, Obama received the backing of a local labor affiliate of one of Clinton’s biggest supporters, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The Philadelphia-based local of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees has about 16,000 members.

McCain compiling a list of possible running mates

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Sen. John McCain has begun “getting together a list of names” to choose a vice presidential running mate and said Wednesday he hopes to announce his choice before the Republican convention in early September.

“I’d like to get it done as early as possible. I’m aware of enhanced importance of this issue given my age,” said the Arizona senator, 71, who wrapped up the Republican presidential nomination a month ago.

McCain told reporters his search for a running mate would take weeks if not months. At the prompting of aides, he said it was at an “embryonic stage” and added, “it’s every name imaginable,” about 20 in all.

His campaign had asked unnamed individuals to lead the effort, but had not heard back from them, McCain said. He said he wants to move quickly to make sure that there are no problems when he unveils his choice.

Candidates about even

Hillary Rodham Clinton is running about even nationally with Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential race, 49 percent to 46 percent, in the latest Gallup Poll. The survey had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The poll was conducted March 30-April 1 and involved interviews with 1,262 Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters. The survey was a tracking poll, in which Gallup interviews voters every night and uses the results from the three most recent evenings.

Poll: Clinton is still ahead in race in Pennsylvania

WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton’s lead over Barack Obama has shrunk slightly in the Democratic presidential race in Pennsylvania, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.

Clinton holds a 9-percentage-point edge, down from 12 percentage points in a mid-March poll. With less than three weeks until Pennsylvania’s primary, she has 50 percent compared with Obama’s 41 percent.

The New York senator is well ahead of Obama among the state’s white voters, 59 percent to 34 percent, while Obama gets nearly three of four black votes. She leads among women, while the two are even with men. As usual, the Illinois senator does best with younger voters while Clinton leads among older ones.

Chairman: Florida to have delegation at convention

WASHINGTON — Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean said Wednesday the party was committed to seating Florida’s delegates at this summer’s convention as long as any agreement is supported by the party’s two presidential contenders.

Dean met with Florida lawmakers to discuss ways of allocating delegates among Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton and prepare for the fall campaign in the battleground state.

The party stripped Florida and Michigan of their delegates to the national convention in Denver because they ignored party rules and moved their primaries to January.

Judge blocks testimony

WASHINGTON — A federal judge has rejected an effort to force Hillary Rodham Clinton to testify in a decade-old lawsuit over White House acquisition of FBI background files.

The court ruling spares Clinton a politically sensitive deposition at a time when she is fighting to overtake Barack Obama in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The lawsuit is over the Clinton White House’s acquisition of hundreds of FBI files on Republican appointees to White House jobs in previous administrations. The conservative group Judicial Watch accused the former first lady of masterminding a conspiracy and has been trying to question her for years.

Had Clinton been forced to testify, it would have rekindled the controversy. An Independent Counsel report in 2000 found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Obama plans job for Gore, picks up endorsements

WALLINGFORD, Pa. — Sen. Barack Obama said Wednesday he would give Al Gore, a Nobel prize winner, a major role in an Obama administration to address the problem of global warming.

Former Indiana Rep. Lee Hamilton backed Obama on Wednesday, an endorsement that could boost the presidential hopeful’s national security standing and his prospects in the state’s May 6 primary. Obama won the support of Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal.

Obama said he would use Gore to help forge a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions designed to lower pollution.

The Illinois senator cautioned that such a system could mean an increase in electricity bills from power companies that rely on coal-burning, and that some of the money generated from a cap-and-trade system may be used in the beginning to help lower income or fixed income customers with those bills.

Associated Press