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8 - Tuesday, April 1, 2008

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Clinton accuses Obama of trying to stop further voting

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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -
Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham
Clinton accused rival Sen. Barack
Obama and his allies of trying to
stop people from voting as some
of his backers have called on her to
drop out of the presidential race.
The Obama campaign rejected
the charge, dismissing Clinton's
criticism as "completely laugh-
able."
In a series of television inter-
views in states holding upcoming
contests, Clinton vowed to press
on with her campaign and sug-
gested Obama and his supporters
wanted to keep those states from
playing a role in selecting the par-
ty's presidential nominee,
"My take on it is a lot of Senator
Obama's supporters want to end
this race because they don't want
people to keep voting," she told
CBS affiliate KTVQ in Billings,

Mont. "That's just the opposite of
what I believe. We want people to
vote. I want the people of Montana
to vote, don't you?"
Montana holds its primary June
3. The New York senator made
similar comments in interviews
with stations in Indiana and North
Carolina, which hold primaries
May 6.
Obama leads the overall race for
the Democratic nomination with
1,631 delegates, including sepa-
rately chosen party and elected
officials known as superdelegates.
He got the backing of Minnesota
Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Monday.
Clinton has 1,501, according to the
latest AP tally.
Clinton almost certainly will
end the primary season narrowly
trailing Obama in the popular
vote and among pledged delegates
unless the nullified primaries in

Florida and Michigan are counted
- an unlikely scenario at best. But
Obama is unlikely to end the race
with the 2,024 pledged delegates
needed to win outright either,
meaning the nominee will be
determined by roughly 800 super-
delegates.
Responding to Clinton, Obama
spokesman Bill Burton said: "That
is completely laughable from a
campaign that thought the race
would be over on February 5. We
have encouraged our supporters
to do no such thing and Senator
Obama was very clear he supports
her carrying on in this race."
Campaigning in Pennsylvania,
Obama called the continuing pri-
mary battle "a struggle" but said
he believed it was a good process
that would strengthen the party in
the long run.
"It is a healthy thing that so

many people are passionate,"
Obama said in Johnstown. "I think
it is great that Senator Clinton's
supporters are as passionate about
her as my supporters are about
me... I think that is making this
historic race that much more com-
pelling."
Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy
last week became the first leading
Democrat to openlycall on Clinton
to step aside and cede the nomina-
tion to Obama. He said he worried
the prolonged nominating battle
was strengthening the chances of
the Republican nominee in wait-
ing, John McCain.
Since then, Obama and his sup-
porters have said Clinton should
stay in the race as long as she
chooses while indicating a lengthy
primary battle would not help
the party's position in the general
election.

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6

11 .. .... . . ..

Olympic torch ceremony
draws no protestors in Beijing

BEIJING (AP) - The elaborate
ceremony to rekindle the Olympic
torchwentoffwithout a hitchyes-
terday in closely guarded Tianan-
men Square - with hundreds of
cheering women in brightly col-
ored T-shirts, flower-toting chil-
dren and confetti.
There were no protests in Bei-
jing, although some are expected
during the 85,000-mile world
tour.
The Olympic torch left on
a chartered plane to Almaty,
Kazakhstan, Tuesday morning,
accordingto Beijing organizers.
Demonstrations are expected
as the torch goes to London, Paris
and San Francisco. Even stops in
Kazakhstanand-then Turkeylater
this week could be flash points for
China's Muslim Uighur minority
living abroad.
President Hu Jintao presided
at the elaborate ceremony in Bei-
jing's Tiananmen Square, where
the flame - carried from Greece
in a lantern aboard an Air China
flight - reignited the Olympic
torch.
The ceremony, filled with
political jargon, multicolored
balloons and confetti, was broad-

cast on state television 130 days
before the games open. It was
meant to display a confident
China ready to use the Olympics
to show off its growing economic
and political clout. About 5,000
people attended the invitation-
only event. Hundreds of seats
were vacant, save for dozens of
plainclothes security agents in
black jackets.
Liu Qi, head of the Beijingorga-
nizing committee, in his speech
repeated that the games will be
"green Olympics, high-tech Olym-
pics and the people's Olympics."
There were few ordinary Chi-
nese at the ceremony, however.
Roads around the square were
closed, nearby subway stations
were shuttered, and police bar-
ricades kept back thousands of
people about a half-mile from the
tiny flame.
"The government takes this
very seriously," said a man calling
himself An Ping who was in the
crowd behind the cordon. "They
have invested a lot of money in
the Olympics, so they want it to
go smoothly. It (security) is good
because if there is a problem, it
will affect the ceremony."

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