DETROIT, Michigan (CNN) – Hillary Clinton traveled to Michigan Wednesday and challenged Barack Obama to approve a new proposal for a primary re-vote, painting the issue as a matter of civil rights and charging that Republicans may take the state in November if voters there do not get a say in picking the Democratic nominee.
"I am here for one simple reason," Clinton said to a small crowd of supporters gathered at an AFSCME hall. "To make sure Michigan's votes are counted, and your voices are heard in this election."
Clinton, trailing Obama in pledged delegates, scheduled a last-minute trip here as part of a larger effort by her campaign to schedule re-votes in Michigan and Florida, both of which were stripped of their delegates when they violated Democratic Party rules by moving forward their primary dates.
On Monday, the Florida Democratic Party ruled out a new primary vote.
In a series of memos and conference calls in recent days, the Clinton campaign has portrayed Obama as obstructionist because he has failed to advocate for a re-vote in Michigan. A draft proposal by the Michigan state legislature, which has received a tentative go-ahead from the Democratic National Committee, would hold a re-vote on June 3 using privately-raised funds.
The Obama campaign released a memo Wednesday raising "serious" legal and procedural questions about the Michigan proposal. Clinton said the matter of Michigan's delegates boils down to each candidate's commitment to voting rights and questioned if Obama is committed to "empowering the American people."
"This is a crucial test," she said. "Does he mean what he says or not?
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WASHINGTON (CNN) - The National Archives has released Hillary Clinton's schedules during her eight years as first lady.
CNN is currently reviewing the documents.
(CNN) – The Democratic National Committee seized on John McCain's apparent gaffe while discussing Iran Tuesday, saying it raises questions whether the Arizona senator "can be trusted to offer a clear way forward."
The misstep in question occurred during a news conference in Jordan earlier Tuesday, when the presumptive Republican presidential nominee repeatedly said Iran was supplying al Qaeda. Iran is predominately a Shiite country and is not aiding the Sunni dominated Al-Qaeda.
McCain ultimately corrected himself after Sen. Joe Lieberman whispered in his ear.
"I'm sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al Qaeda. I am sorry," the Arizona senator said.
DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney quickly pounced on the misstep.
"After eight years of the Bush Administration's incompetence in Iraq, McCain's comments don't give the American people a reason to believe that he can be trusted to offer a clear way forward," she said. "Not only is Senator McCain wrong on Iraq once again, but he showed he either doesn't understand the challenges facing Iraq and the region or is willing to ignore the facts on the ground."
McCain's campaign immediately responded, saying the "Democrats have launched political attacks today because they know the American people have deep concerns about their candidates’ judgment and readiness to lead as commander in chief.”
The DNC later sent out a transcript of McCain's interview Monday with conservative Hugh Hewitt, during which he appeared to make the same mistake.
"As you know, there are al Qaeda operatives that are taken back into Iran, given training as leaders, and they’re moving back into Iraq," he told Hewitt.
Related: McCain warns of increasing Iranian influence
– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
(CNN) – President Bush will mark the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war on Wednesday by calling the debate over the conflict "understandable" but insisting that a continued U.S. presence there is crucial.
"The answers are clear to me," Bush will say, according to excerpts of his speech to be delivered at the Pentagon on Wednesday, the day the war began in 2003.
"Removing Saddam Hussein from power was the right decision, and this is a fight America can and must win."
Almost 4,000 American troops have died in the war, a painful toll that Bush will acknowledge.
Related Video: Ed Henry reports on President Bush's Iraq war remarks
(CNN) - More than 7 out of 10 Americans think government spending on the war in Iraq is partly responsible for the economic troubles in the United States, according to results of a recent poll.
In the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll conducted last weekend, 71 percent said they think U.S. spending in Iraq is a reason for the nation's poor economy. Twenty-eight percent said they didn't think so.
The weekend poll, timed to coincide with the Iraq war's fifth anniversary, also showed little U.S. support for the conflict. Fewer than one in three respondents - 32 percent - said they support the war, while 66 percent said they oppose it.
JERUSALEM (CNN) – The Western Wall is the most sacred structure of the Jewish people. And, for a few minutes anyway, a welcome stop on the U.S. presidential campaign trail.
"The next President of the United States," was a cheer from one of the American tourists crowding a corner of the Western Wall plaza to see Senator John McCain during his visit Wednesday.
After slipping the traditional private note into the sacred wall which once supported the western side of the Second Temple, McCain received a tour of the tunnels of 0ld City Jerusalem.
Later, as he approached a railing to wave to the gathered Americans and a smattering of mostly less-interested Israelis, Eli Ezer of New York took a photo, but kept on a running debate with another tourist about McCain's choice of a running mate.
"Do you think he should pick Lieberman?" the woman asked, referring to Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, the Democrat-turned-Independent who is a McCain supporter, and was at his side Wednesday.
"I hope not, " said Ezer. "McCain is conservative, but only on about 70 percent of the issues. He needs to go for a conservative - [Mitt] Romney would be ok, but I am hoping for Thompson."
Ezer said former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson was his first choice in the Republican field this year, but that he had voted for McCain in the New York GOP primary because Thompson was gone from the race at that point.
Related: Watch McCain pay tribute in Jerusalem
–CNN Chief National Correspondent John King
(CNN) – A survey finds one in four Florida Democrats may not support their party’s nominee if the state’s delegation is not seated at the nominating convention in Denver this summer, and three in four say it is “very important” that the state’s delegates count towards the nomination.
Earlier this week, the state party announced that it would not hold a second primary. The first was not recognized by the Democratic National Committee because of penalties over the early date of the vote.
The major presidential candidates all agreed not to campaign in the state in advance of the January 29 contest. More than 1.75 million voters – a state record – weighed in, but no delegates were awarded.
Hillary Clinton won that primary, and twice as many of her supporters (56 percent) as Obama supporters (27 percent) want those results to stand in the new St. Petersburg Times/Bay News 9/Miami Herald poll.
But more Obama supporters would like to see the January results count than hold a new primary, or divide the state’s delegates between the two remaining Democratic candidates. A mail-in primary – another alternative option that had been weighed by the state party – was even less popular; fewer than one in 10 voters overall approve of that option.
Obama would make a much stronger showing in any re-vote than he did in the original contest; he now trails Clinton among the state’s Democrats by fewer than 10 points, 46 to 37 percent.
Florida’s voters feel there’s plenty of blame to go around for the primary debacle: one-quarter blame DNC chairman Howard Dean, and slightly more blame GOP leaders in the state legislature, who set the early primary date. One-fifth blame the state Democratic Party.
The survey included telephone interviews with 600 registered Democrats and frequent Florida voters, and was conducted March 15-17. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.
–CNN Associate Political Editor Rebecca Sinderbrand
Compiled by Jonathan Helman
CNN Washington Bureau
NY Times: Clinton Tries to Keep Plan for Two Revotes Alive
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s hopes of ending the primaries with game-changing victories from new contests in Florida and Michigan grew dim on Tuesday as Florida officially scuttled plans for a new vote and Michigan lawmakers appeared far from a deal.
Washington Post: McCain Mixes Up Iraqi Groups
Sen. John McCain, in the midst of a trip to the Middle East that he hoped would help burnish his foreign policy expertise, incorrectly asserted Tuesday that Iran is training and supplying al-Qaeda in Iraq, confusing the Sunni insurgent group with the Shiite extremists who U.S. officials believe are supported by their religious brethren in the neighboring country.
NY Times: Clinton Records From ’90s to Be Released on Wednesday
More than 11,000 pages of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s schedules as first lady, records sought by a conservative watchdog group and journalists, will be released on Wednesday, the National Archives announced Tuesday.
Politico: Obama's Racial Problems Transcend Wright
Even before the Jeremiah Wright controversy erupted in recent days, voting patterns in several states made clear — for all the glow of Obama’s reputation as a bridge-builder — how uneven his record really is when it comes to transcending deep racial divides.
Compiled by Jonathan Helman, CNN Washington Bureau
*Hillary Clinton attends an event in Detroit, Michigan and a town hall meeting in Charleston, West Virginia.
*John McCain is in Israel.
*Barack Obama gives a speech on Iraq and national security in Fayetteville, North Carolina and attends a town hall meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina.
(CNN) – Sen. Barack Obama did something Tuesday which he had largely avoided so far in his presidential campaign - address issues of race in America as a serious African-American contender for the Democratic Party's nomination. Suzanne Malveaux reports from the campaign trail about Obama's speech.
Overseas, Sen. John McCain continues his tour of the Middle East. Chief National Correspondent John King reports from Jerusalem about McCain's visit to Israel and with the King of Jordan.
The proposal by Florida's Democratic Party to hold a do-over primary was shot down by most of the Florida Congressional delegation almost from the moment it was released. John Zarella explains what happens next now that Florida Democrats have announced that they have given up on pursuing a re-vote.
Finally, Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider reports on a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll on how voters view the three senators vying for the Oval Office.
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–CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart
From CNN Politics
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