Today on the presidential campaign trail

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - IN THE HEADLINES

Obama says public financing system is 'creaky' and needs reform ... Clinton outlines $4 billion annual anti-crime plan ... Obama discusses abortion, notes his backing from anti-abortion Democrats ... McCain defends homeowner plan, rejects criticism that he flip-flopped ... Fire destroys Clinton's campaign office in Indiana, investigation under way

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Obama: Public finance system 'creaky'

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The nation's system of public financing presidential elections is "creaky" and needs to be updated, Sen. Barack Obama said Friday, offering another possible argument for bypassing the three-decades-old system that has helped pay campaigns for the White House.

Obama, who has raised a whopping $234 million from about 1.3 million donors, said the limited amounts of money available from the federal treasury for presidential campaigns pose difficult choices for candidates raising large sums.

"I think that it is creaky," he said of the program financed by $3 dollar checkoffs in tax returns. "The amount of money raised through the public financing system may be substantially lower than the amount of money that can be raised over the Internet, which presents candidates then with some pretty tough decisions in terms of how they want to move forward if they want to compete in as many states as possible."

This year, the presidential nominees would be entitled to $84 million in public funds in the general election.

Obama said Friday he had not made a decision about his general election money plans and said that if he secures the nomination he would meet with John McCain, the likely Republican nominee, to discuss ways to reduce the influence of outside groups in the election.

McCain is taking steps to accept the public funds, returning money he has raised so far that was designated for the general election. But he said he would reconsider if Obama decides not to accept the public funding.

"I have a record on reform; Senator Obama has rhetoric on reform," McCain told reporters in Dallas.

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Clinton outlines anti-crime plan

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton would eliminate the federal mandatory five-year sentence for crack cocaine users as part of a $4 billion-a-year anti-crime initiative designed, in part, to steer many nonviolent offenders away from prison.

Her plan also would revive several programs started by her husband's administration, including federal funding of community-oriented prosecutors and police officers.

The New York senator outlined her proposal in a speech in Philadelphia, a key city in her contest with Sen. Barack Obama for voters in Pennsylvania's April 22 presidential primary. Top goals of her plan include reducing homicide rates and the amount of prison space occupied by nonviolent offenders, many of them drug users.

The issue of crime has played a comparatively small role in this year's presidential race, which is dominated by the economy and Iraq war. In introducing Clinton, however, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said many of his constituents "are more worried about Al Gangster than al-Qaida." Philadelphia had 392 murders last year.

Clinton's position on minimum sentencing has drawn little notice, although she backs a Senate bill that would eliminate the five-year mandatory prison term for persons prosecuted in federal courts for possessing at least five grams of crack cocaine. The bill, and her initiative, would not affect state prosecutions.

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McCain defends homeowner plan

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Republican John McCain defended his latest plan to help some homeowners pay their mortgages and denied Friday that it was a reversal of his earlier opposition to aggressive intervention by the government.

The likely Republican presidential nominee on Thursday proposed to help 200,000 to 400,000 homeowners trade burdensome mortgages for manageable loans, a plan that would cost $3 billion to $10 billion.

Democratic rivals Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama argued that McCain was flip-flopping. Last month, he said he preferred only limited intervention and letting market forces play out, drawing criticism from Democrats and some Republicans that he was being indifferent to Americans facing foreclosures and other economic pain.

McCain said their criticism was "just factually incorrect."

"I said there shouldn't be a broad government bailout," he told reporters Friday in Dallas.

McCain held a rally Friday in an airport hangar after holding fundraisers in Dallas and Lubbock.

"I think you all know," he told the crowd in Lubbock, "Americans are sitting around the kitchen table, and they're trying to figure out a way to keep their home and realize the American dream."

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Obama notes anti-abortion supporters

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Barack Obama said anti-abortion Democrats are backing him because they feel he respects their opinion on the issue despite disagreement on it.

The Democratic presidential candidate favors abortion rights, but he noted his support from former Rep. Tim Roemer of Indiana and Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania who are anti-abortion.

"It may be that those who have opposed abortion get a sense that I'm listening to them and respect their position even though where we finally come down may be different," he told reporters at a news conference.

"The mistake that pro-choice forces have sometimes made in the past, and this is a generalization so it has not always been the case, has been to not acknowledge the wrenching moral issues involved in it," he said.

"Most Americans recognize that what we want to do is avoid, or help people avoid, having to make this difficult choice. That nobody is pro-abortion, abortion is never a good thing."

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Fire destroys Clinton campaign office

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — Fire destroyed a campaign office of presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton in western Indiana early Friday.

Two people were inside when the fire broke out but escaped without injuries, said Terre Haute Fire Department spokesman John Gardner.

Gardner said nothing so far had indicated the fire was arson.

"But we're doing a full investigation on it like any other commercial structure fire," he said.

Former President Clinton stopped briefly outside the burned building Friday on his way to a campaign speech in the small city of Clinton about 20 miles north of Terre Haute.

"Our young workers here are undeterred, and they're ready to roll so we'll get it going," he said.

Clinton laughed when asked whether the fire was a bad sign for his wife's campaign. "No, I think this is a good omen," he said. "We'll rise from the ashes like the Phoenix."

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THE NUMBERS

Barack Obama has an 9-point lead nationally over Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic presidential race, 51 percent to 42 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 April 8-10 and involved interviews with 1,210 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.

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THE DEMOCRATS

Hillary Rodham Clinton campaigns in Pennsylvania. Barack Obama campaigns in Indiana.

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THE REPUBLICANS

John McCain holds a rally in Texas.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"They are the best for peer review and understanding the talents of those who would run for president." — Charles Manatt, on whether it's a problem that superdelegates will decide the outcome of the Democratic presidential race. Manatt proposed the superdelegate system in 1983 while chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

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STAT OF THE DAY:

Sixty-two percent of whites who support Democrat Barack Obama have completed college while 46 percent of those who back Hillary Rodham Clinton have done so, according to exit polls of voters in 27 Democratic state primaries where both candidates competed. The figures exclude Florida and Michigan, plus all caucuses.

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Compiled by Ann Sanner.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080411/ap_on_el_pr/2008_race_rundown [link]