WASHINGTON - Britain’s Financial Times newspaper, which has bigger paid circulation in the United States than its home country, weighed into the bitter Democratic nominating contest– offering its endorsement to Sen. Barack Obama.

The backing of the financial newspaper in Monday’s edition comes just a day before voters in Pennsylvania go to the polls, a state that could offer some salvation for his opponent Sen. Hillary Clinton, who has been clinging to a narrow lead in the state but trails in the delegate count. 

The FT points to Obama’s well-run campaign and cross-party appeal for putting him over the top of his rival. It also cites Clinton’s unpopularity and questions her campaign strategy, arguing it has been re-tooled several times.

A small excerpt (more here):

After Tuesday’s vote, the Democrats should move quickly to affirm Mr Obama’s nomination. That is not just because his lead in elected delegates is already unassailable and the contest should be brought to a swift conclusion. It is also because he is, in fact, the better candidate.

The contenders’ differences on policy look small and in reality are even smaller. Their disagreement on healthcare mandates, for instance, frequently emphasised by Mrs Clinton, is of little practical significance. A mandate to obtain insurance, as proposed by Mrs Clinton, does not achieve universal coverage unless enforced with punitive sanctions, which she does not advocate.

Some question the value of endorsements, does this bit of overseas analysis add anything to the mix?

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Tim Shaffer (Obama waves to supporters at a rally outside Philadelphia.)

HAVERFORD, Penn. - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, trying to shore up support in Pennsylvania ahead of next week’s hotly-contested nominating vote, had some simple advice on Thursday for how to win over undecided voters.

Asked by one audience member what to say when going door-to-door in support of the New York senator, Clinton responded: “Just knock on the door and say, ‘you know, she’s really nice.’”

“Or you can say it another way,” Clinton added. “‘She’s not as bad as you think!’”

Clinton, who has struggled to overcome perceptions that she can be cold, campaigned with her daughter, Chelsea, and mother, Dorothy Rodham, one day after a tense debate with rival Barack Obama, a senator from Illinois, whom Clinton is trying to beat for their party’s White House nomination.

Clinton, who criticized Obama on a variety of issues during the debate, veered away from attacking her opponent on Thursday, instead highlighting women’s issues such as equal pay, breast cancer research, and financial support for family caregivers. 

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Tim Shaffer (Clinton at a debate in Pennsylvania on April 16)

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, 78, managed to crack a few jokes and talk about his faith on Wednesday as he vowed to fight a recurrence of cancer and seek reelection in 2010.

“I consider it another bump in the road,” the Pennsylvania Republican told a Capitol Hill news conference called to discuss a recurrence of Hodgkin’s disease. “I’ve had a lot of bumps, and I’ve got good shock absorbers.”

Specter, who successfully battled the illness in 2005, disclosed this week he had been diagnosed with a recurrence of the cancer. His doctor said he had an “excellent chance of achieving a complete remission.”

Specter told reporters he will begin chemotherapy later this month and is confident he will again be able to keep up with his Senate duties.

Asked what keeps him going, Specter said wryly: “Got a good job, yes, faith, family, questions from the news media.”

Specter said he intends to seek a sixth term in 2010 and expects Democrats to try to make his health and age a factor. Democrats ousted a more conservative Pennsylvania senator, Rick Santorum, in the 2006 election.

Then Specter resurrected a couple of quips he used on a visit to the popular cable TV program, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”

“He (Stewart) asked me how old I was, and I said, ‘I forget.’ And then I said I looked at my birth certificate recently and I decided not to let a little thing like that bother me because it happened so long ago.’” 

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (Specter last September on Capitol Hill)

PHILADELPHIA — Democratic White House hopeful Hillary Clinton stopped by a dance class at the Westside YMCA in West Philadelphia on Friday. Tell us what you think — can Hillary dance?

Earlier in the day, she presented a $4 billion anti-crime plan that she hopes will halve murder rates in big cities. She was accompanied by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, a key ally in Clinton’s bid to win over black voters from her rival Barack Obama.

Democratic candidate Barack Obama, who has built his candidacy on the promise of a “new kind of politics,” has run up against the old kind of politics in Philadelphia.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Obama’s refusal to pay “street money” to volunteers in Pennsylvania’s largest city may cost him support in the state’s April 22 primary.

Local party leaders in Philadelphia expect candidates to deliver cash to help them get out the vote, the Times says. Teens who hand out leaflets typically get a $10 bill, while more experienced volunteers can get up to $100. The total for America’s sixth-largest city could come to $500,000.

“This is a machine city, and ward leaders have to pay their committee people,” ward leader and Obama supporter Carol Ann Campbell told the Times.

Obama often rails against the influence of money in politics, and his campaign has told Philadelphia officials they should expect no street money.

That could cost him support in an area where he will have to run up large margins to counteract rival Hillary Clinton’s strength elsewhere in the state, the Times said. Local officials expect the Clinton campaign will have no qualms about handing out street money, which is legal and has been a fixture in previous presidential campaigns.

Obama’s stance could also cause resentment among the city’s poor, black voters, who see the black candidate’s well-funded campaign spending lavishly on TV ads but freezing out field workers for whom a $50 bill would be a big payday.

“They view it that the white people are getting all the money for TV,” said state Rep. Dwight Evans, who is neutral in the race.

Photo credit: REUTERS/Frank Polich (Obama campaigns in Gary, Indiana on April 10)

To great effect during the Texas primary, Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton ran a television ad arguing that she was best able to handle a late night national security crisis if elected to the White House. Now she’s gone back to that well again.

The focus this time is the see-sawing economy and imploding housing market, leading Clinton to question whether presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain can handle that call at 3 a.m.

Clinton, who trails rival Barack Obama in the overall Democratic delegate race, leads in polls in Pennsylvania, the next state to hold its primary. The two senators are neck-and-neck in Indiana, which follows in early May.

Can this new ad focused on McCain help her close the gap again on Obama?

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ALTOONA, Pa - Fans of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama might swoon at his speeches. They might stand in awe of his judgment and echo his call for change. But they probably are not impressed by his bowling skills.

The Illinois senator, who is on a six-day bus tour of Pennsylvania to “introduce himself” to the state’s voters, dropped in on a bowling alley in Altoona late on Saturday and, after chatting with some people, put on a pair of bowling shoes to try his hand in a competition with Sen. Robert Casey, who has recently endorsed him.

The candidate’s first attempt was a gutterball.

“I’ve got to get at least something,” he said as he turned around to face a growing crowd.

His next attempt, another gutterball, showed little improvement.

“No worries,” he said. “I’m not done.”

In his defense, Obama pointed out that he hadn’t bowled for 30 years.

Fellow bowlers — even Republicans — lined up for pictures and autographs, surprised that a presidential candidate was hanging out at their local alley. Obama probably is hoping that Pennsylvania voters are like the pins: once you get to know them, they fall more easily.

Obama eventually got a spare but it came after Casey had scored a strike and long after Roxanne Hart, a regular who joined the senators on the lane, had put them both to shame.

“I was terrible,” Obama said, smiling as he emerged from the Pleasant Valley Recreation Center bowling alley.

Hart put it a little more charitably: “He has a lot of potential.”

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