Clinton To Headline a Night at DNC

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Senator Clinton will headline her own night at the Democratic National Convention, Senator Obama’s campaign announced yesterday in a nod to her strong second-place showing in the party’s presidential primary. The former first lady will speak on the second night, Tuesday, August 26 — the 88th anniversary of the women’s right to vote. The campaign and convention committee in a statement called her “a champion for working families and one of the most effective and empathetic voices in the country today.” The Obama campaign is seeking to avoid hard feelings among Mrs. Clinton’s supporters at their carefully orchestrated convention. But they still haven’t reached a deal on whether Mrs. Clinton will be included in the roll call vote for the nomination, which could make the party appear divided heading into the final stretch of the White House race. The campaign said Mr. Obama’s wife, Michelle, is slated to headline the opening night on August 25. The high-profile appearance at the kickoff is a chance for the potential first lady, who has been attacked by critics, to get more positive exposure.

EDWARDS’S FORMER MISTRESS REJECTS DNA TEST

Rielle Hunter, the former presidential campaign aide who had an affair with John Edwards, said Saturday that she will not pursue DNA testing to establish the paternity of her 5-month-old daughter, despite the former senator’s offer to participate in such a test. In a statement provided to the Washington Post, Ms. Hunter said through her attorney that she will not be party to such a test “now or in the future.” The attorney, Robert Gordon, called Hunter a “private” person who is “not running for public office” and would not comment further. If Ms. Hunter sticks to that position, it will ease the pressure on Mr. Edwards, who on Friday dropped his earlier denials and admitted to having an affair with Hunter in 2006 but denied being the father of the child.

‘SWING COUNTIES’ ATTRACTING MINORITIES

Minority Americans have been flocking to the nation’s “swing counties,” hotly contested areas that could play a crucial role in this year’s election. That’s got to be good news for Senator Obama, bidding to become the first black president. Blacks and Hispanics are moving to counties that already were racially diverse, such as Osceola in central Florida and Mecklenberg in North Carolina, home to Charlotte. They also are moving to key counties that remain predominantly white, such as Lake in Northeast Ohio, Lehigh in eastern Pennsylvania, and Oakland outside Detroit. If this year’s election is as close as the past two, demographic shifts in these counties could make a big difference. The racial changes reflect national trends: 93% of all counties are less white than they were at the start of the decade, according to new Census estimates. But the changes are even more profound in swing counties of potential battleground states, counties that were decided by razor thin margins in 2000 and 2004 and could decide statewide winners this year.

OBAMA FORGOES POLITICKING IN HAWAII

Senator Obama says there will be little or no politicking over the next six days as he takes a vacation in his childhood home of Hawaii. “I’m going to go body surfing at some undisclosed location,” Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, told the crowd at a welcoming rally on Saturday in Honolulu. “I’m going to go get some shaved ice.” Mr. Obama, 47, the first major party White House candidate to visit Hawaii since Richard Nixon in 1960, today began his first full day of a weeklong vacation on the island of Oahu. While he plans to relax, see his grandmother, and visit old hangouts, Mr. Obama also said he will work on his speech to the Democratic National Convention in Denver this month. Mr. Obama, joined in Hawaii by his family as well as strategist Robert Gibbs, campaign treasurer and longtime friend Martin Nesbitt, and others, is likely to announce his pick for a running mate some time after returning to the campaign trail on August 16. So far, his only official campaign event next week is a fund-raiser to be held August 12 in Hawaii. Yesterday he took a walk on the beach and played golf with Mr. Gibbs and others.


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