The longer the primary battle goes on the more expensive it is for the candidates. And, according to the latest financial report, Hillary Clinton has nearly $9 million in unpaid bills for goods and services, including $3,100 to her alma mater, Maine South High School, for a campaign rally in February. The check may be in the mail but the revelation is still embarrassing for a candidate who accuses the Bush administration of fiscal irresponsibility and promises a big tax cut for the middle class.
Hillary Clinton is focusing almost entirely on the economy in Pennsylvania, telling voters in Harrisburg Monday that she'll cut taxes on the middle class by $100 billion a year, saving the average family at least $4,000.
"My plan is fiscally responsible. We pay for it by restoring fairness to the tax code," said Senator Hillary Clinton, (D) presidential candidate.
Clinton has a double-digit lead over Barack Obama in the most recent Pennsylvania polls. But Obama is campaigning hard in the Keystone State with the support of a U.S. senator who is very popular among working class white voters.
And, Monday, Obama gained another endorsement from a super-delegate, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar.
"Barack has inspired an enthusiasm and an idealism that we haven't seen in this country in a long time," said Klobuchar.
The super-delegate scorecard now stands at 13 senators for each candidate. But Obama has picked up 64 super-delegates to Clinton's nine since Super Tuesday, February 5, and the unofficial super-delegate count is now Clinton 250, Obama 217.
Some Democrats have been trying to push Clinton out of the race before they beat each other up beyond repair. But Obama says a tough competitive campaign is good for the party.
"I think it's great that Senator Clinton's supporters are as passionate about her as mine are about me, because what that's done is everybody's gotten passionate, everybody is registering to vote," said Senator Barack Obama, (D) presidential candidate. "And I am convinced that Democrats are going to be unified as soon as we settle on a nominee. So don't worry about that. Everybody is going to recognize there's a lot bigger difference between me and John McCain than me and Hillary Clinton."
This, by the way, is the first time in weeks that Obama and Clinton have resisted the temptation to attack or even criticize one another. So, maybe there is a kind of informal truce taking shape after so many Democrats advised them to put the knives away, because it was only helping Republican John McCain. In fact, the tone Monday, as they campaigned 100 miles apart in Pennsylvania, was almost like Obama and Clinton realize they may end up on the same ticket together after all.
On the Republican side, presidential candidate John McCain is re-introducing himself to voters with what he's calling a "biography tour." He was in Meridian, Mississippi, Monday, where generations of McCains have made their homes and a military base is named for his grandfather.
The presumptive nominees is doing the tour to get voters' attention and tout his military service to the United States, something that he wanted to do even as a young boy.
"Happy pursuits of the young prove ephemeral. Something better can endure and endure until our last moment of life; and that is the honor we earn and the love we give when we work and sacrifice with others for a cause that is greater than our self interest," said Sen. John McCain, (R) presidential candidate.
Senator McCain will head to Washington DC Tuesday and to Florida later in the week.
