Clinton heads south, Obama east; both woo Latinos, lament job loss
The top Democratic presidential candidates struck out on different paths Friday, with Hillary Rodham Clinton addressing healthcare and college education costs in San Diego while Barack Obama discussed economics in Albuquerque.
Along the way, both made appeals to Latino voters, who could be key to delivering delegates in California, New Mexico and other states in next week’s Super Tuesday nominating contests.
Each began the day in Los Angeles, after Thursday night’s one-on-one debate at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre. Clinton spent the morning doing satellite interviews with television stations in the 22 states holding Democratic primaries or caucuses Tuesday; Obama held a news conference at the downtown Bonaventure Hotel before flying off to New Mexico.
Obama told reporters that his campaign had been “aggressively advertising in the Latino community” and that although he is “at a disadvantage relative to Sen. Clinton, because she’s universally known . . . I think we are going to do much better than people anticipate” wooing Latino voters.
Clinton, who spent the entire day campaigning in delegate-rich California, was introduced to about 10,000 people at San Diego State University by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and state Assembly Leader Fabian Nunez -- an effort to reinforce her strength among Latino voters, a crucial part of her coalition.
The New York senator got added endorsements from Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina and state Sen. Ron Calderon (D-Montebello) and began airing a California television ad that features Cesar L. Chavez, grandson of the legendary labor leader.
On Friday, both candidates addressed a new federal report that said the nation lost jobs in January -- the first job loss since 2003.
Clinton, in a statement, referred to it as a “second Bush recession.”
Obama blamed the president’s tax policies and “failure of oversight,” then later in the day set his sights on Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican front-runner.
Speaking to about 5,000 supporters in Albuquerque, the Illinois senator said: “There was a time when Sen. McCain courageously defied the fiscal madness of massive tax cuts for the wealthy in the midst of a costly war.
“But that was before he started running for the Republican nomination and fell in line,” Obama said. “Now he, like all the other Republican nominees, wants to make permanent the tax cuts he once denounced.”
Both Obama and Clinton renewed their calls for the Bush administration and Congress to move quickly on an economic stimulus plan that would include “an expansion of unemployment insurance” -- part of the Democratic plan in the Senate that has failed to gain enough support to be enacted.
In San Diego, Clinton argued that healthcare is the defining issue of the 2008 presidential campaign. But she also played to the predominantly student crowd in an attempt to cut into some of Obama’s advantage with that demographic group.
Clinton accused college loan companies of usurious practices and laid out her proposal to forgive student debts of those who go into “a public-service job like teaching or nursing or law enforcement.”
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peter.nicholas@latimes.com
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Times staff writer Scott Martelle contributed to this report.
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