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/ 21 January 2008

Obama blasts Bill Clinton ahead of debate

Barack Obama lashed out at rival Hillary Clinton’s husband, Bill, on Monday, calling the former president’s role in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination ”pretty troubling”. ”You know, the former president … has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling,” Obama said.

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/ 19 January 2008

US race moves to Nevada, South Carolina

Voters in the American west and south will get their first chance on Saturday to have a say in the tightest and most chaotic race for the White House in decades. According to polls, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are in a virtual dead heat in Nevada, which holds its caucuses on Saturday for Democrats and Republicans.

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/ 14 January 2008

Republican candidates go for a spin in Detroit

It’s an exacting task campaigning for president — you have to be an expert on everything, including gas-electric hybrid propulsion systems for a new generation of sedan cars. Campaigning for Tuesday’s Michigan primary, the leading Republican candidates dropped in on the Detroit motor show to emphasise their dedication to helping the region’s shrinking car industry.

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/ 13 January 2008

Romney, McCain debate jobs in depressed Michigan

Republican rivals Mitt Romney and John McCain clashed on Saturday over how to revive the depressed economy of Michigan, as the most open United States presidential race in decades approached its next big test. Romney needs to win the Republican primary here on Tuesday after losing Iowa to former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and New Hampshire to McCain.

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/ 7 January 2008

Obama jumps into the lead in New Hampshire

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton battled to keep crucial New Hampshire from swinging to rising rival Barack Obama on Sunday but new polls showed him jumping into the lead. In the hotly contested Republican race, Arizona Senator John McCain leaped ahead of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney even as Romney tried to raise doubts about McCain.

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/ 4 January 2008

Obama, Huckabee win first 2008 US vote

Barack Obama took a big step on Thursday towards becoming the first black United States president as his campaign for change caught fire in Iowa and swept him past Hillary Clinton in the opening Democratic nominating contest. Republican underdog Mike Huckabee capped a stunning political rise to beat rival Mitt Romney in Iowa.

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/ 3 January 2008

White House rivals hit finishing tape in Iowa

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and other White House hopefuls beseeched Iowans to vote to change America as they sought to land an early blow in Thursday’s crucial first 2008 nominating clash. Both Democratic and Republican races were too close to call, before more than 200 000 activists cast their judgements in the fabled Iowa caucuses.

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/ 31 December 2007

Civility abandoned in US as negative campaigning works

The presidential candidates in the United States stepped up their personal attacks on Sunday to try to squeeze out an advantage in the extremely tight contest for the Iowa caucuses, now only three days away. As Democratic and Republican candidates toured in the final push before the January 3 caucuses, new polls showed the negative campaigning was effective.

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/ 30 December 2007

Republicans facing first poll in disarray

Clad in an orange and grey hunting jacket and an orange cap, Mike Huckabee raised his 12-gauge shotgun, took aim and fired, bagging a pheasant for the benefit of watching reporters. As another shot flew over their heads, it became too much for one journalist who cried: ”Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Don’t shoot. This is traumatising.”

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/ 23 December 2007

Bill’s magic touch bolsters Hillary’s bid

Bill Clinton has never been one to avoid the limelight. Or stay on message. Last week, as he spearheaded a mission to rejuvenate his wife’s troubled presidential campaign, he showed that old habits die hard. In a publicity stunt at a grocery store in the vital first battleground state of Iowa, the ex-president caused brief chaos by breaking away to chat to the public.

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/ 11 November 2007

Southern preacher could be saviour of Republicans

He is a former governor of Arkansas from a town called Hope. He has a nice line in campaign humour and speaks like a Deep South preacher. He is also running for president. But this is not Bill Clinton of 1992. This is Mike Huckabee, a long-shot Republican contender for the 2008 White House who has burst into the leading pack of the race.