Clinton, Obama woo unions in PA.

Obama, Clinton woo unions in Pa. By DEVLIN BARRETT and BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writers Barack Obama told Pennsylvania unions Wednesday that he will fight the type of trade deals struck by the Clinton and Bush administrations, while rival Hillary Rodham Clinton proposed $7 billion in tax breaks for corporations to persuade them to keep jobs in this country. The rival Democratic presidential candidates both portrayed themselves as labor's best friend as they campaigned in Pennsylvania where 830,000 union voters are expected to have a strong say in how more than 4.1 million Democrats, a record registration for the state, allocate 158 delegates to the Democratic national convention. Three weeks from the April 22 primary, a new poll shows that Clinton's lead over Obama here has shrunk slightly from the 12-percentage-point edge she held in mid-March. The Quinnipiac University telephone poll, which ended March 31, showed Clinton with 50 percent and Obama with 41 percent. Clinton is well ahead of Obama among the state's white voters, 59 percent to 34 percent, while Obama gets nearly three of four black votes. She is well ahead among women, while the two are even with men. As usual, Obama does best with younger voters while Clinton leads among older ones. While the poll was conducted, Obama gained the endorsement of Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey Jr. On Wednesday, former Indiana Rep. Lee Hamilton, the top Democrat on the Sept. 11 commission, backed Obama. Addressing a meeting of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, Obama said, "What I refuse to accept is that we have to sign trade deals like the South Korea Agreement that are bad for American workers." "What I oppose — and what I will always oppose — are trade deals that put the interests of Wall Street ahead of the interests of American workers. That's why I opposed NAFTA," he said as he wrapped up a six-day bus tour through Pennsylvania. The Illinois senator and Clinton have spent weeks arguing over which one of them did or didn't oppose the North American Free Trade Agreement, a deal with Mexico and Canada that was struck during Bill Clinton's presidency. Speaking to the same unions a day earlier, Clinton said as first lady she had forcefully battled the deal, which is unpopular with organized labor because it helped corporations move many blue collar jobs out of the country to use cheaper labor. "I did speak out and oppose NAFTA," she said. "I raised a big yellow flag and said, 'I don't think this will work.'" On March 19, the National Archives released most of Clinton's daily schedules as first lady; they showed her holding at least five meetings in 1993 aimed at helping win congressional approval of NAFTA. The Obama campaign said the meetings show Clinton was misrepresenting her record on NAFTA. At an economic summit in Pittsburgh organized Wednesday by her presidential campaign, the New York senator was expected to propose eliminating tax breaks for companies that move jobs to other countries and using the savings to persuade companies to keep jobs in the U.S. Clinton's plan would offer new tax benefits for research and job development. It would also create "innovation and research clusters" across the country and provide $500 million annually in investments to encourage the creation of high-wage jobs in clean energy. Obama also responded Wednesday to Clinton's comparison of herself a day earlier to Rocky Balboa, the underdog boxer from Philadelphia in the 1976 film. She said "when it comes to finishing a fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common. I never quit. I never give up." Obama told the union meeting: "We all love Rocky. But we've got to remember, Rocky was a movie."