MCCAIN LAUNCHES BIOGRAPHICAL GENERAL ELECTION TOUR

While senators Clinton and Obama fight it out for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator McCain has embarked on what his campaign has dubbed a “Service to America” tour, aimed at highlighting the Arizonan’s long record in public service and familiarizing voters with his life story. He began yesterday with a stop in Meridian, Miss., near where generations of his family lived and where an airfield is named for his grandfather. Mr. McCain retraced his family’s history of military service and noted that his son represents the fourth McCain generation to attend the Naval Academy. “The family I was born to, and the family I am blessed with now, made me the man I am,” he said, “and instilled in me a deep and abiding respect for the social institution that wields the greatest influence in the formation of our individual character and the character of our society.” Mr. McCain’s tour, which is also intended to keep him in the news while the Democratic primary race continues, moves on this week to Virginia, Maryland, Florida, and his home state of Arizona.

MINNESOTA’S KLOBUCHAR BACKS OBAMA

Senator Klobuchar of Minnesota threw her support to Senator Obama yesterday, calling the Illinois senator a “new kind of leader” who could “dissolve the hard vinegar edge that’s dominated our politics under the Bush administration.” The freshman Democrat, a superdelegate, said she decided to support Mr. Obama soon after he won the Minnesota caucuses overwhelmingly on February 5, but held back out of respect for Senator Clinton. While Ms. Klobuchar said she decided to announce her endorsement to help the party come together, she was careful not to criticize Mrs. Clinton and said repeatedly that she did not think the former first lady should drop out of the presidential race. “The tone in the campaign didn’t really have anything to do with my decision,” Ms. Klobuchar told reporters in a conference call.

MICHIGAN CONGRESSMAN PROPOSES DELEGATE SOLUTION

A Michigan congressman is proposing a solution to the state’s delegate dispute that would award delegates to senators Clinton and Obama partly on the results of the January 15 Michigan primary and partly based on the national popular vote totals once all the states have voted. Rep. Bart Stupak made the proposal in a letter to the Democratic national chairman, Howard Dean. Under the plan, Mrs. Clinton would receive 47 delegates to Mr. Obama’s 36 based on her January 15 victory, an election in which Mr. Obama took his name off the ballot. The remaining 73 delegates would be divvied up based on the national popular vote, which Mr. Obama is leading by a small margin. The Democratic National Committee stripped Michigan and Florida of their delegates because they broke party rules in scheduling their elections in January. Party officials have debated how to resolve the fight for months, and in March attempts to hold new primaries in each state collapsed.

CHELSEA CLINTON AGAIN REJECTS LEWINSKY QUERY

Chelsea Clinton refused for the second time in a week to discuss how her father’s affair with Monica Lewinsky had affected her mother. “It’s none of your business,” Ms. Clinton replied when asked in North Carolina about the affair, rejecting a student questioner’s argument that the topic was relevant because her father had been president. Her response drew applause from the crowd, according to the Charlotte Observer. “I’m sure there are things in your family that you don’t think are anyone’s business, either,” Ms. Clinton said. She added that people should not vote for or against her mother because of her father, the newspaper reported.