GIULIANI, McCAIN SPLIT OVER DISASTER INSURANCE FUND

A new divide is emerging between Mayor Giuliani and Senator McCain in their escalating battle in Florida. Mr. Giuliani has touted his support for a national catastrophic insurance fund that could help protect Florida homeowners from financial crisis resulting from the frequent hurricanes that hit the state. Yesterday, Mr. McCain said he would not back such a policy. “That insurance policy is there and it’s called FEMA and it’s called national disaster preparedness,” the Arizona senator said while campaigning in Coral Gables, according to a report in the Miami Herald that the Giuliani campaign sent to journalists. Mr. Giuliani has taken a much more aggressive approach toward Mr. McCain after dismal finishes in the first Republican primaries. He has staked his presidential hopes on a victory in Florida’s primary one week from today, but polls show he has lost the commanding lead he once held in the state. Mr. McCain, meanwhile, is expecting a boost following his victory in South Carolina on Saturday. The former mayor has also gone after Mr. McCain over his opposition to President Bush’s tax cuts in 2001. His campaign issued a research document to reporters yesterday titled, “John McCain: Not a Fiscal Conservative.” “Rudy Giuliani is the only fiscal conservative in the race and it’s easy to see why,” a campaign spokeswoman, Katie Levinson, said. “John McCain not only voted with the Democrats against the Bush tax cuts twice, he’s voted over 50 times for higher taxes. With a record like that, you can’t tell if John McCain will stand up to the Democrats in Washington who want to raise taxes or stand with them.” Mr. McCain’s campaign has suggested the newfound attacks are a result of Mr. Giuliani’s flagging poll numbers, and the senator hit back on Mr. Giuliani earlier in the week, reminding Republican voters that he endorsed a Democrat, Mario Cuomo, over Republican George Pataki in the New York gubernatorial race in 1994.

KING CEREMONY BRINGS PRESIDENT CLINTON, HUCKABEE TOGETHER

A celebration of the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at his old church in Atlanta brought together two former Arkansas governors now in the heat of the presidential campaign: President Clinton and Michael Huckabee. Messrs. Clinton and Huckabee both attended a ceremony for the slain civil rights leader at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. The former president, who has been campaigning aggressively for his wife’s campaign, acknowledged Mr. Huckabee during his speech and noted that the two had worked together on an effort to combat childhood obesity. “We don’t agree on much, but he is a very good man,” Mr. Clinton said to applause as Mr. Huckabee sat in a front-row pew. Mr. Clinton served as governor of Arkansas until his election as president in 1992, while Mr. Huckabee served for more than a decade beginning in 1996.

OBAMA RAMPS UP EFFORT TO CORRECT MISCONCEPTION ABOUT HIS RELIGIOUS FAITH

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Senator Obama is stepping up his effort to correct the misconception that he’s a Muslim now that the presidential campaign has hit the Bible Belt. At a rally to kick off a week-long campaign for the South Carolina primary, Mr. Obama tried to set the record straight from an attack circulating widely on the Internet that is designed to play into prejudices against Muslims and fears of terrorism.

“I’ve been to the same church — the same Christian church — for almost 20 years,” Mr. Obama said, stressing the word Christian and drawing cheers from the faithful in reply. “I was sworn in with my hand on the family Bible. Whenever I’m in the United States Senate, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. So if you get some silly e-mail … send it back to whoever sent it and tell them this is all crazy. Educate.”

Mr. Obama is referring to a debunked chain e-mail circulating widely on the Internet that suggests he is hiding his Islamic roots and may be a terrorist in disguise. It says he was sworn into the Senate on the Koran and turns his back on the flag during the pledge.

There are some truths in the email’s details. Mr. Obama’s middle name is Hussein. His father and stepfather were Muslim. And he spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, a largely Muslim country. But he attended secular and Catholic schools, not a radical madrassa.

His campaign has been pushing back against the false rumors all year.