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06/02/2008 23:54

USA today Editoweb, 06 feb. 2008


Report: Voter turnout records broken - McCain widens lead, Clinton lends cash - Obama says GOP will have dirt on Clinton - White House defends interrogation method - Stocks extend Tuesday's drop.



Report: Voter turnout records broken
Voters came out in record numbers in about half the states that have voted in presidential primaries so far, according to an analysis Wednesday. Turnout among Republicans on Super Tuesday toppled a 20-year record in Alabama, according to the report issued by American University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate. More than 16 percent of those eligible voted in the GOP race, compared with about 7 percent in 1988.

McCain widens lead, Clinton lends cash
Sen. John McCain padded his commanding delegate lead in the Republican presidential race Wednesday and urged conservative critics to cut him some slack. In a Democratic surprise, Hillary Rodham Clinton disclosed she'd lent $5 million to her cash-short campaign. "And I think the results last night proved the wisdom of my investment," said the former first lady, one day after trading victories with Barack Obama in a Super Tuesday string of contests from coast to coast.

Obama says GOP will have dirt on Clinton
Sen. Barack Obama predicted Wednesday that Republicans will have a dump truck full of dirt to unload on Hillary Rodham Clinton if the former first lady wins the Democratic presidential nomination, and said he offers the party its best hope of winning the White House this fall. Clinton countered that she did. At a news conference on the morning after Super Tuesday, Obama offered some pointed advice to members of Congress and other party leaders who will attend the national convention this summer as delegates not chosen in primaries or caucuses.

White House defends interrogation method
The White House on Wednesday defended the use of the interrogation technique known as waterboarding, saying it is legal — not torture as critics argue — and has saved American lives. President Bush could authorize waterboarding for future terrorism suspects if certain criteria are met, a spokesman said. A day earlier, the Bush administration acknowledged publicly for the first time that the tactic was used by U.S. government questioners on three terror suspects. Testifying before Congress, CIA Director Michael Hayden said Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubayda and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri were waterboarded in 2002 and 2003.

Stocks extend Tuesday's drop
Wall Street pulled back for the third straight day Wednesday as investors still uneasy about the economy sold off after a Federal Reserve official suggested rising inflation could prevent the central bank from making further interest rate cuts. Although the economic slowdown is a big concern, "we must not lose sight of the other part of the Fed's dual mandate — which is price stability," Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser said, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

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