Clinton, back on trail, doesn’t discuss Palin

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton marched for labor and stumped with Democrats on Saturday but sidestepped questions about the woman who has displaced her as the nation’s most-talked-about female leader.

Clinton brushed aside questions about Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin during appearances at New York City’s annual labor parade and later during a stop on Staten Island.

“This election is about issues, and that’s what’s going to matter to people at the end of the day,” she told reporters who asked her about the Alaska governor at a rally for a Democratic congressional candidate at Wagner College.

Clinton joined other New York politicians for a Saturday-morning breakfast with union leaders in Manhattan, then marched up Fifth Avenue in the parade.

In the afternoon on Staten Island, she stumped for Mike McMahon, who is running for an open U.S. House seat.

Clinton was welcomed warmly at all three events. Some supporters at her Staten Island rally brought Clinton for President placards.

She only mentioned Palin by name once during the day, at the labor breakfast, when she uttered a modified version of a line from her speech at the Democratic National Convention: “No way, no how, no McCain, no Palin.”