Nader For President ???

Ralph Nader's announcement that he is running for president again in 2008 has provided us with perhaps the least surprising surprise of the campaign so far.

Mr Nader has played some sort of role in every race for the White House since 1992 although his record in public life stretches back further still.

As a writer and political activist, Mr Nader has been an influential figure in American public life for 40 years - the scourge of corporate greed and wasteful defence spending and champion of consumer rights and the need to protect the environment.

His public life as measured through the ballot box is not perhaps very successful - he achieved 2.74% of the popular vote in 2000 for example - but his supporters argue that he is a kind of grassroots visionary whose ideas start life on the fringes of political debate then move to the centre.

Consider how all serious politicians are now expected to talk about the environment, they say.

Mr Nader will be best-remembered for the central role he played in the dramas of the 2000 contest between George W Bush and Al Gore which still rankles with many Democrats to this day.

That contest hinged on a virtual dead-heat between the two main candidates in the state of Florida - which after a series of battles in the courts, eventually went the way of Mr Bush.
Democrats point out though that where only a few hundred votes separated Mr Bush from Al Gore, nearly 100,000 people voted for Mr Nader.

Those voters, say Democrats, would clearly have been likely to vote for Mr Gore had Mr Nader not been on the ballot - and so they blame Mr Nader for handing the presidency to George W Bush.

Third-party impact

Mr Nader and his supporters do not buy that argument - and of course America is a democracy where the voters are entitled to vote for the candidate of their choice - but there is no doubt that his candidacy in 2008 will once again raise the whole issue of how tight presidential races between Democrats and Republicans can be affected by third party candidates.

Now very few races will ever be as tight as Florida in 2000, but there is no doubt that a third candidacy can help to determine who wins the White House.

Would Bill Clinton ever have become president in 1992 for example if Ross Perot had not run and taken around 19% of the popular vote?

It is reasonable to assume that at least some of those voters would have plumped for the Republican candidate George Bush senior if Mr Perot had not been around.

There are two ways in which third-party candidates can have a real impact.

First, like Mr Perot they can simply attract a huge number of votes.

Second, like Mr Nader in Florida in 2000, they can attract votes in a finely balanced race and thus effectively hold a kind of balance of power.

It seems reasonable to assume - on the basis of his track record - that Mr Nader is not going to get anywhere near the 19% of the vote that Mr Perot once achieved, so any influence he may have in 2008 will depend on the race being a desperately tight one again.

If it is, then Mr Nader's presence on the ballot may once again be highly significant.

The first candidate to discuss the Nader candidacy, Barack Obama, did not appear troubled by the prospect, though, merely noting that it was the job of a Democratic contender to be so compelling that the prospect of a few per cent of the vote being diverted to another candidate would make no difference to the outcome.

But we should beware of treating the contest for the White House simply as a horse race - rather than as a battle for ideas.

Ralph Nader once characterised the Democrat and Republican contenders for the presidency as "Tweedledum and Tweedledee" - implying that there was very little to choose between them.
Mr Nader's consumer-focused, environment-driven brand of radicalism ensures that a whole other set of ideas will once again get an airing this time around.

Even if he does not affect the outcome, the candidate who now replaces John McCain as the oldest man in the race will at least make it more politically interesting.

Clinton Knocks Obama tactics

US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has made her fiercest denunciation so far of Barack Obama, her rival for the Democratic Party nomination.

Mrs Clinton accused the Illinois senator of producing a misleading leaflet on her health care policy.

"Shame on you, Barack Obama!" the New York senator said at a rally in Ohio, which holds its primary in 10 days.

But Mr Obama said he stood by the leaflet, saying he was puzzled by what he called his rival's change in tone.

"Enough with the speeches and the big rallies and then using tactics that are right out of Karl Rove's playbook," said the former first lady ahead of Ohio's crucial primary early next month.
Both the Ohio and the Texas primaries, both being held on 4 March, are being seen as must-wins for Mrs Clinton.

'Sharper elbows'

Mr Obama, who has won 11 consecutive primaries and caucuses in recent weeks, is now seen as the Democratic front-runner.

But Mrs Clinton's campaign has struggled to find an effective way to cope with her rival's extraordinary momentum and has decided to "go negative", says the BBC's Kevin Connolly in Washington.

She and her advisers have clearly calculated that the state of the race now calls for sharper elbows and a sharper tone, our correspondent adds.

Mr Obama now has at least 1,353 of the 2,025 delegates he needs to secure the Democratic nomination at the party's convention in August, according to an Associated Press projection.

Mrs Clinton has 1,264 delegates. Texas and Ohio have a combined total of 334 delegates up for grabs.

Correspondents say the blue-collar vote will be crucial in both contests, and the Clinton campaign has already begun targeting lower-income workers in its ads.

But in his drive to become the first black US president, Mr Obama has recently gained support from some powerful unions, including the Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union.

Pacific delegates

Meanwhile, John McCain was given a further boost by the Pacific islands of Northern Marianas which chose its nine Republican delegates on Saturday.

The islands are among three US Pacific territories each sending nine delegates to the Republican convention in Minnesota this September, and delegates have praised the former Vietnam prisoner for his knowledge of their islands.

Republicans in American Samoa also announced that all nine of their delegates would support Mr McCain.

Guam Republicans take their decision on 8 March.

The latest results give the Arizona senator a total of 976 delegates, according to the Associated Press, and he needs 1,191 delegates to secure the Republican nomination.

His rival, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, trails far behind with 254 delegates.

John McCain Needs More Funds

Raising money and thinking about a running mate are two of the big challenges facing likely Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

Both are on the agenda as the McCain team plans a transition to a campaign focused more on the Democrats and the general election. But one -- fundraising -- is being treated with considerably more urgency.

Sources involved in the effort say the McCain fundraising operation is reaching out to some 300 major Republican fundraisers, many of whom were supporting other GOP presidential candidates.

McCain is CNN's Larry King's guest for the entire hour tonight at 9 p.m. ET.

Also on the list are top fundraisers for President Bush's political organization. Top Bush fundraiser Mercer Reynolds, for example, endorsed McCain this past week, and campaign aides say he's actively helping to expand McCain's financial network.

The goal is to raise millions -- tens of millions -- by tapping these fundraising networks and finding donors who may have given the maximum amount to their first choice in the GOP field but have yet to give to McCain.

It's an effort proceeding on two tracks: raising millions for the "primary" campaign that continues up to the nominating convention this summer, while also beginning to amass millions more for the general election campaign.

Meanwhile, sources inside and close to the McCain camp acknowledge some casual conversations about a vice presidential search process. These sources stress emphatically that there have been no official meetings or discussions with McCain or even among his senior staff, though they expect the subject to come up in a series of transition meetings over the next several days and weeks.

"It is a top concern of the media and a relatively low concern of ours," one senior McCain adviser said. One reason for the lack of urgency: While McCain is the all-but-certain GOP nominee, the Democratic race is anything but clear -- and McCain is unlikely to make his pick until after the Democratic nominee chooses a running mate.

The Republican convention is a week after the Democrats', and while GOP sources don't rule out a McCain choice earlier, they say that under no circumstances would McCain pick a running mate without first knowing who would lead the Democratic ticket.

Still, there are informal conversations about how to begin a search process.

Again, the sources said no decisions have been made. But several McCain aides and advisers who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity suggest a logical choice to shepherd the process, at least at the beginning, is McCain adviser and veteran GOP strategist Charlie Black. In a brief conversation with CNN, Black said the subject has not come up in any of his conversations with McCain or campaign manager Rick Davis.

Others have suggested Davis would lead the process, though most in the campaign suggest he is too busy with day-to-day challenges, including expanding the staff to prepare for a national campaign, thinking ahead to the GOP convention and preparing for conversations with the Republican National Committee about installing a number of McCain operatives in the party's staff structure.

Those who discussed the running mate issue said that for now, the goal would be, as one put it, "to come up with a list of 20 or 25 people as your starting point and begin the basic research and early vetting."

So what does McCain need to do with his choice?

"Try back in June or July," one campaign official said with a laugh.

But GOP circles, of course, are full of such conversations. Some suggest former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's continued strong showing among social conservatives suggests McCain needs to shore up his right flank. Others say his choice will matter more than most vice presidential picks because McCain is 71 years old, so there will even more than the traditional scrutiny of whether the pick is up to being president.

Obama, Clinton compete in 3 states

Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton competed for Democratic convention delegates across three states on Saturday, locked in a landmark struggle for the party's presidential nomination.

A total of 158 delegates was at stake in the Louisiana primary and caucuses in Nebraska and Washington. Caucuses in the Virgin Islands offered three more.

Clinton began the day with a slender delegate lead in The Associated Press count. She had 1,045 delegates to 960 for Obama. A total of 2,025 is required to win the nomination at the party convention in Denver.

Republican contests in Louisiana, Kansas and Guam provided John McCain a chance to advance closer to the 1,191 delegates he needs to make his nomination official.

The Arizona senator began the day with 707 delegates. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, with 195, and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, with 14, were his only remaining rivals following Mitt Romney's withdrawal from the race.

The day's contests opened a new phase in the Democratic race between Clinton, attempting to become the first woman in the White House, and Obama, hoping to become the first black.

The Feb. 5 Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses in 22 states, which once looked likely to effectively settle the race, instead produced a near-equal delegate split.

That left Obama and Clinton facing the likelihood of a grind-it-out competition lasting into spring — if not to the convention itself.

With the night's events, 29 of the 50 states have selected delegates.

Two more — Michigan and Florida — held renegade primaries and the Democratic National Committee has vowed not to seat any delegates chosen at either of them.

Maine, with 24 delegates, holds caucuses on Sunday. Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia and voting by Americans overseas are next, on Tuesday, with 175 combined.

Then follows a brief intermission, followed by a string of election nights, some crowded, some not.

The date of March 4 looms large, 370 delegates in primaries in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Mississippi is alone in holding a primary one week later, with a relatively small 33 delegates at stake.

Puerto Rico anchors the Democratic calendar, with 55 delegates chosen in caucuses on June 7.

If Super Tuesday failed to settle the campaign, it produced a remarkable surge in fundraising.

Obama's aides announced he had raised more than $7 million on line in the two days that followed.

Clinton disclosed she had loaned her campaign $5 million late last month in an attempt to counter her rival's Super Tuesday television advertising. She raised more than $6 million in the two days after the busiest night in primary history.

The television ad wars continued unabated.

Obama has been airing commercials for more than a week in television markets serving every state that has a contest though Feb 19.

Clinton began airing ads midweek in Washington state, Maine and Nebraska, and added Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia on Friday.

U.S. Voters Head To The Polls For Super Tuesday

Voters across America are heading to the polls for what could be a pivotal day in deciding which Democratic and Republican presidential hopefuls face off in the race to the White House.

Some of the biggest prizes of the primary season -- California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Missouri and Georgia -- are up for grabs on "Super Tuesday", when voters make their party choices in 24 of the states, as well as American Samoa.

At stake are more than four-fifths of the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination and more than 1,000 of the 1,191 necessary delegates on the Republican side.

This year's presidential race is generating more interest than usual because of its open nature. The current president, Republican George W. Bush, has served two terms in office and is ineligible to stand, while vice-president Dick Cheney is also not running.

None of the four Republicans and two Democrats seeking to be nominated by their parties have been adopted as official presidential candidates before.

The Democratic race between Illinois senator Barack Obama and New York senator Hillary Clinton, is already extremely close, with neither side expected to deliver a knock out blow. The chances of a clearcut winner will be further reduced by how the Democrats usually split delegates by a proportion of the popular vote.

Obama has taken first blood, with Democratic Party supporters voting abroad in Indonesia -- where Obama spent four years of his childhood -- picking him over Clinton.

But Obama and Clinton are likely to split the delegates fairly evenly, Democratic analyst Peter Fenn said.

Obama promoted his health-insurance proposal Tuesday, arguing that most people will opt for coverage if it is made affordable.

He told CNN's "American Morning" from San Francisco that his plan would allow anyone to get health care, and coverage would be mandated for children. Those who couldn't afford insurance would receive a subsidy, and there would be no restrictions because of pre-existing medical conditions.

"Our focus has been on reducing costs, making it available. I am confident that if people have a chance to buy high-quality health care that is affordable, they will do so," Obama said.

Clinton, who returned to her touchstone issue of health care Monday, had previously said Obama's plan is "not doable

She cast her vote in the New York's Democratic presidential primary Tuesday morning at the polling station in Chappaqua's Douglas Grafflin Elementary School with her husband and daughter.

She has campaigned on the contention that her eight years as first lady makes her more qualified on "day one" than Barack Obama, who has been a U.S. senator for just four years.

Former President Bill Clinton said casting his primary ballot for his wife was "one of the proudest moments of my life."

"I think that Obama clearly has an advantage in those seven states that are doing caucuses," Fenn said. "I think she's got to carry the big states that she had planned on. California is clearly up for grabs now ... Unless one or the other gets annihilated, I think they go on to many more Tuesdays."

In a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll Monday, the two Democratic front-runners were virtually tied. Obama garnered 49 percent of registered Democrats, while Clinton trailed by just 3 percentage points. With a sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points, the margin is too close to call.

The Republican battle between Arizona senator John McCain, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee could be decided in Tuesday's vote with more than 1,000 of the 1,191 delegates needed to clinch the presidential nomination at stake. Other candidates include Ron Paul, who has described himself as an "old-time, conventional, traditional conservative" and "the most conservative member of Congress."

The Republicans allocate delegates in most primary states on a winner-take-all basis -- which means that wins in the biggest states by McCain, who leads national Republican polls, have the potential to propel him to a towering lead over his rivals.

While last-minute polls indicate Romney has gained ground against McCain in California, Romney is likely to split races with Huckabee in the South, Republican strategist John Feehery said.

"In the Northeastern states and Midwest, I think John McCain is going to win," Feehery said. "I think it's really hard for Mitt Romney to get this nomination."

Early Tuesday the two leading Republican candidates chose to evoke the spirit of two-time Republican president Ronald Reagan.

McCain, out on the streets of Manhattan with former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani -- who is endorsing him after dropping out of the Republican race last week -- said that he is the Republican who can win the White House by gaining the support of independent voters.

McCain, also accompanied by senator Joe Lieberman, told supporters that his campaign would "take the battle to the enemy."

"I guarantee you as the nominee of my party, I can and will carry the city of New York, as well as the state of New York because we know how to appeal to independents," he said.

"We are the greatest nation on earth. We will continue to lead and we will be, as Ronald Reagan said, a shining city on a hill."

Meanwhile Romney, speaking to CNN's "America Morning" from Charleston, West Virginia, said that a victory for him in California and other key states would pave the way for wider success.

"It will indicate the conservative voices in our party are standing up and saying, 'wait a second, we want to make sure that this party does not leave the house that Ronald Reagan built.

"And if that happens, I think we're going to see a very clear pathway to gain additional delegates from the ongoing contests, and put together the winning combination to get the nomination."

The two rivals exchanged bitter words Monday. Romney positioned himself as the conservative alternative to the Arizona senator, who has infuriated Republican activists with his support for immigration reform and campaign-finance reform as well as opposition against tax cuts, claiming that "you have a hard time distinguishing him from Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama."

Meanwhile McCain attacked Romney for raising taxes, while refuting claims he's not conservative enough.

Romney suggested Sunday that Huckabee, who has struggled since winning the January 3 Iowa caucuses, quit the race because he was splitting the conservative vote. But Huckabee said Romney's assumption that Huckabee supporters would turn to him was "presumptuous and even arrogant."

Paul Tuesday said that the U.S. government has drifted in the past hundred years from following the Constitution, but he would put it back on track with balanced budgets, elimination of income taxes and the IRS, and withdrawal from "entangling alliances," including the United Nations.

Giuliani quits White House race

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has pulled out of the Republican race for the White House after disappointing primary results in Florida.
Mr Giuliani announced he was giving his support to Arizona Senator John McCain, describing him as "an American hero".

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California will also endorse Mr McCain.

Earlier on Wednesday, Democrat John Edwards left the race, without backing any of his rivals, after failing to win a single party nomination contest.

Mr Edwards contested Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and his native South Carolina, but only in Iowa did he get higher than third place, and that only by the narrowest of margins.

He told supporters in New Orleans, where he launched his latest White House bid in 2006: "It's time for me to step aside so that history can blaze its path."

Heated debate

Mr Giuliani announced his withdrawal just before the remaining Republican candidates began a televised debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, on Wednesday evening.

With the two other candidates - former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and Texas Congressman Ron Paul - often struggling to be heard, the 90-minute debate was dominated by the verbal jousting of the two front-runners.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney accused Mr McCain of "dirty tricks" for accusing him - just before Tuesday's Florida primary - of supporting a date for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

"It's offensive to me that someone would suggest that I have," said Mr Romney.

Mr Romney said Mr McCain was out of the conservative mainstream, having twice voted against President Bush's tax cuts, which the Republican establishment had embraced.

Mr McCain countered that he was proud of his conservative credentials, and questioned Mr Romney's administrative record in Massachusetts.

"His job creation was the third worst in the country," said the Arizona senator.

The simmering tensions were indicative of the pressure that is building ahead of next week's "Super Tuesday", when 20 states hold their nominating votes in what could be a decisive day in the race for the White House.

Rudy's gamble

In contrast to the heated exchanges in Simi Valley, Mr Giuliani's address was light-hearted.

This man is a national hero and I'm honoured by his friendship

John McCain on Rudy Giuliani

He said he had thought he was the sort of person who had the qualities to make a good president of the United States, "but the voters made a different choice".

"John McCain is the most qualified candidate to be the next commander in chief of the United States," Mr Giuliani said. "He's an American hero and America could use heroes in the White House."

He added that Mr McCain was a longstanding friend and he would campaign alongside him whenever and wherever he was needed.

Mr McCain returned the compliments, praising Mr Giuliani's leadership as mayor in the wake of the attacks on the US on 11 September 2001.

He described his former rival as "my strong right arm and my partner".

"This man is a national hero and I'm honoured by his friendship," he said.

Mr Giuliani was seen by his supporters as a tough commander in chief, while other Republicans were wary of his attitude on social issues, like abortion.

When he entered the race more than a year ago he led some national polls and had an impressive war chest. He is reported to have spent up to a million dollars a week on TV advertising in Florida alone.

Correspondents say his decision to focus his efforts on Florida was always going to be either a stroke of political genius or an unwise gamble that would see him fall at the first hurdle.

Mr Giuliani won 15% of the vote, behind Mr McCain with 36% and Mitt Romney with 31% and just ahead of Mike Huckabee who won 13%.

Barack Obama Wins

Barack Obama routed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the racially charged South Carolina primary Saturday night, regaining campaign momentum in the prelude to a Feb. 5 coast-to-coast competition for more than 1,600 Democratic National Convention delegates.

The choice in this election is not about regions or religions or genders," Obama said at a boisterous victory rally. "It's not about rich versus poor, young versus old and it's not about black versus white. It's about the past versus the future."

The audience chanted "Race doesn't matter" as it awaited Obama to make his appearance after rolling up 55 percent of the vote in a three-way race.

But it did, in a primary that shattered turnout records.

About half the voters were black, according to polling place interviews, and four out of five of them supported Obama. Black women turned out in particularly large numbers. Obama, the first-term Illinois senator, got about a quarter of the white vote while Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina split the rest.

Clinton flew to Nashville as the polls closed, and looked ahead. "Now the eyes of the country turn to Tennessee and the other states voting on Feb. 5," she said, adding "millions and millions of Americans are going to have their voices heard."

Edwards finished a distant third, a sharp setback in the state where he was born and scored a primary victory in his first presidential campaign four years ago. Even so, he vowed to remain in the race, his goal, he said, to "give voice to all those whose voices aren't being heard."

The victory was Obama's first since he won the kickoff Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3. Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, scored an upset in the New Hampshire primary a few days later. They split the Nevada caucuses, she winning the turnout race, he gaining a one-delegate margin. In an historic race, she hopes to become the first woman to occupy the White House, and Obama is the strongest black contender in history.

The South Carolina primary marked the end of the first phase of the campaign for the Democratic nomination, a series of single-state contests that winnowed the field, conferred co-front-runner status on Clinton and Obama but had relatively few delegates at stake.

That all changes in 10 days' time, when New York, Illinois and California are among the 15 states holding primaries in a virtual nationwide primary. Another seven states and American Samoa will hold Democratic caucuses on the same day.

Obama took a thinly veiled swipe at Clinton in his remarks.

"We are up against conventional thinking that says your ability to lead as president comes from longevity in Washington or proximity to the White House. But we know that real leadership is about candor, and judgment, and the ability to rally Americans from all walks of life around a common purpose — a higher purpose," Obama said.

Looking ahead to Feb. 5, he added that "nearly half the nation will have the chance to join us in saying that we are tired of business-as-usual in Washington, we are hungry for change, and we are ready to believe again."

Nearly complete returns showed Obama winning 55 percent of the vote, Clinton gaining 27 percent. Edwards had 18 percent and won only his home county of Oconee.

Obama also gained 25 convention delegates, Clinton won 12 and Edwards eight.

Overall, Clinton has 249 delegates, followed by Obama with 167 and Edwards with 58.

Obama also gained an endorsement from Caroline Kennedy, who likened the Illinois senator to her late father, President John F. Kennedy.

"I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them," she wrote on The New York Times op-ed page. "But for the first time, I believe I have found a man who could be that president — and not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans."

All three contenders campaigned in South Carolina on primary day, but only Obama and Edwards arranged to speak to supporters after the polls closed. Clinton left for Tennessee as the polls were closing. After playing a muted role in the earlier contests, the issue of race dominated an incendiary week that included a shift in strategy for Obama, a remarkably bitter debate and fresh scrutiny of former President Clinton's role in his wife's campaign.

Each side accused the other of playing the race card, sparking a controversy that frequently involved Bill Clinton.

"They are getting votes, to be sure, because of their race or gender. That's why people tell me Hillary doesn't have a chance of winning here," the former president said at one stop as he campaigned for his wife, strongly suggesting that blacks would not support a white alternative to Obama.

Clinton campaign strategists denied any intentional effort to stir the racial debate. But they said they believe the fallout has had the effect of branding Obama as "the black candidate," a tag that could hurt him outside the South.

Nearly six in 10 voters said the former president's efforts for his wife was important to their choice, and among them, slightly more favored Obama than the former first lady.

Overall, Obama defeated Clinton among both men and women.

The exit polls showed the economy was the most important issue in the race. About one quarter picked health care. And only one in five said it was the war in Iraq, underscoring the extent to which the once-dominant issue has faded in the face of financial concerns.

The exit poll was conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for The Associated Press and the networks.

Republican Rivals Unite In Attacking Clinton

Republican presidential hopefuls heading to a key Florida primary put on a show of civility Thursday during a debate that contrasted with the bitter squabbling between Democratic front-runners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

The four leading Republican candidates all expressed support for the Iraq war, called for deeper tax cuts and even exchanged compliments, keeping their sharpest barbs for Senator Clinton.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Senator John McCain, who lead the Republican field, both lashed out at the former first lady's stance on the Iraq war.

Americans "don't want us to raise the white flag of surrender like Senator Clinton does," McCain said during the 90-minute debate in Boca Raton, Florida. "They know they can win."

Romney also called for increasing the size of the US armed forces by 100,000 troops to about 1.6 million.

The debate was seen as a crucial test ahead of Tuesday's Florida primary, considered pivotal for the Republicans because it delivers 57 delegates to the national assembly that will nominate the party's presidential candidate.

It is also the last major vote in the Republican race before a blitz of state primaries on February 5 known as Super Tuesday.

The race is seen as a make-or-break test for former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who has staked his all on the state's primary but has seen support erode rapidly as his rivals picked up victories in smaller states.

Giuliani dismissed speculation the Florida primary would sound the death knell for his campaign.

"I think we'll do very well in Florida and very well on February 5th," he said.

A voter intention poll out Thursday indicated Romney and McCain were running neck-and-neck in the Florida race.

The Mason Dixon poll, conducted for a group of Florida newspapers, had Romney taking 30 percent and McCain 26 percent, with a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points.

Giuliani was in third place with 18 percent of likely voters and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee had 13 percent.

Buoyed by recent victories in South Carolina and Louisiana, McCain has picked up a crop of endorsements, including one from General Norman Schwarzkopf, who led allied forces in the 1991 Gulf War, and another from Rambo actor Sylvester Stallone.

McCain's status as a Vietnam war hero could help him in Florida, a state that is home to many war veterans and military bases.

Romney, for his part, has focused on his economic credentials at a time when many Americans fear the country could be headed toward recession.

"I spent my life in the real economy," Romney said in a television campaign ad, playing up his history as a venture capitalist with a reputation for successfully turning around ailing companies.

On the Democratic side, the candidates stayed away from Florida where their primary will not count because it is being held earlier than allowed under national party rules.

Clinton and Obama, a senator for Illinois, were campaigning hard in South Carolina, which holds a Democratic primary on Saturday.

Their campaigning has been overshadowed in recent days by a blazing dispute between Clinton's husband, former president Bill Clinton, and Obama.

Obama is leading by double digits in South Carolina, with a Zogby poll on Thursday giving him 39 percent, with Clinton getting 24 percent. John Edwards is running third with 19 percent.

After winning in the first vote in Iowa, Obama is counting on a new victory in South Carolina to boost his momentum going into Super Tuesday, after he lost the last votes in New Hampshire and Nevada to Clinton.

But Clinton got a strong boost from the New York Times, which gave her a glowing endorsement.

"Hearing her talk about the presidency, her policies and answers for America's big problems, we are hugely impressed by the depth of her knowledge, by the force of her intellect and by the breadth of, yes, her experience," the paper said.