Today on the presidential campaign trail

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - IN THE HEADLINES

Elizabeth Edwards prefers Clinton's health care plan, but stops short of endorsement ... Questions about Monica Lewinsky shadow Chelsea Clinton

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Elizabeth Edwards plugs Clinton plan

WASHINGTON (AP) — Elizabeth Edwards put in a plug Wednesday for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's health care plan — possibly the closest any Democratic presidential candidate is likely to get to an endorsement from former rival John Edwards or his wife.

Both Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama have been seeking the backing of John Edwards, whose home state — North Carolina — holds a primary on May 6 with 115 delegates at stake.

Elizabeth Edwards, who discovered last year that the cancer she thought she had beaten had returned, said she prefers Clinton's health care plan, which would require everyone to have health insurance and offers assistance to those who can't afford to buy coverage.

Obama's plan requires all parents to have health insurance for their children, but doesn't mandate that all adults buy coverage.

"I do think that in order to ensure that we have universal coverage we need to say that everybody has to join, so for that reason the mandates that Senator Clinton is talking about I think will actually be more successful in achieving the goal," Elizabeth Edwards said in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America."

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'Other Woman' shadows Chelsea Clinton

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — At least three times in the past two weeks, Chelsea Clinton has been asked about the Monica Lewinsky scandal's influence on the presidential campaign of her mother, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The answer has evolved each time.

When a student at Butler University in Indianapolis first asked the question on March 25, she drew applause and gave a short response that ended with: "I do not think that is any of your business."

Clinton, 28, since has been less blunt, though the message is much the same.

"I think that is something that is personal to my family, I'm sure there are things that are personal to your family that you don't think are anyone else's business, either," she said last week when asked during a visit to North Carolina State University in Raleigh. "But also on a larger point, I don't think you should vote for or against my mother because of my father."

Many in the crowd at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., booed Monday when a question about the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton came up. Chelsea Clinton quickly summed up her position: "If that's what you want to vote on, that's what you should vote on. But I think there are other people (who are) going to vote on things like health care and economics," she said.

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THE DEMOCRATS

Hillary Rodham Clinton campaigns in Pennsylvania before attending a fundraiser with singer Elton John in New York. Barack Obama campaigns in Pennsylvania.

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THE REPUBLICANS

John McCain holds a town hall meeting in Westport, Conn.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"I think they both have the same goals, I just have more confidence in Senator Clinton's policy than Senator Obama's on this particular issue." — Elizabeth Edwards discussing Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama's health care plans in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America."

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STAT OF THE DAY:

Whites who said race was not a factor in picking a presidential candidate were nearly evenly divided when asked whether Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama would satisfy them as the Democratic nominee, according to data from exit polls of voters in 22 Democratic primaries.

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Compiled by Ann Sanner.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080409/ap_on_el_pr/2008_race_rundown [link]