MCCAIN UNVEILS HEALTH PLAN, TAKES FIRE

The presumptive Republican nominee for president, Senator McCain of Arizona, is rolling out a health care plan that relies heavily on competition and eschews many of the mandates promoted by his potential Democratic opponents, Senator Obama of Illinois and Senator Clinton. Speaking at a cancer center in Tampa, Fla., Mr. McCain proposed replacing the unlimited tax deduction for employer-provided health insurance with a $5,000 tax credit each family could claim for insurance or health expenses. “You simply choose the insurance provider that suits you best,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “The health plan you chose would be as good as any that an employer could choose for you. It would be yours and your family’s health care plan, and yours to keep.”

Mrs. Clinton said axing the tax deduction while not guaranteeing coverage for everyone could cause the current system to unravel. “The McCain plan eliminates the policies that hold the employer-based health insurance system together, so while people might have a ‘choice’ of getting such coverage, employers would have no incentive to provide it,” she said in a statement.

“John McCain is recycling the same failed policies that didn’t work when George Bush first proposed them and won’t work now,” a spokesman for Mr. Obama, Hari Sevugan, said in a statement. “Instead of taking on the big health insurance companies and requiring them to cover Americans with preexisting conditions, Senator McCain wants to make it easier for them to reject your coverage, drop it, or jack up the price you pay.”

Mr. McCain said yesterday that he would create a safety net through the states to get insurance to people unable to purchase it from private firms. Nevertheless, the Service Employees International Union began running a television ad yesterday in Ohio attacking the Republican senator’s plan.

CLINTON SWINGS AT OBAMA IN INDIANA AND N.C. WITH TOUGH AD

Senator Clinton is launching a new television ad that goes after Senator Obama for opposing a freeze on housing foreclosures and a temporary repeal of the federal tax on gasoline. “People are hurting. It’s time for a president who’s ready to take action now,” a narrator says in the new spot.

A spokesman for Mr. Obama, Hari Sevugan, said the ad “puts political point-scoring ahead of progress.”

N.C. GOVERNOR: ROCKY A ‘PANSY’ COMPARED WITH CLINTON

Governor Easley of North Carolina is touting Senator Clinton’s pugilistic skills as superior to those of the most famous boxer to grace the silver screen. “This lady right here makes Rocky Balboa look like a pansy,” Mr. Easley said as he endorsed Mrs. Clinton in Raleigh yesterday, according to CBS News. “There’s nothing I love more than a strong, powerful woman,” the governor gushed.

OBAMA GETS KID GLOVE TREATMENT ON N.C. PARQUET

Although considered the favorite to win North Carolina’s primary election, Senator Obama was the clear underdog yesterday as he squared off against the University of North Carolina’s men’s basketball squad.

According to the Associated Press, Mr. Obama showcased his basketball skills in a friendly pickup game with members of the UNC team, who advanced to the Final Four this year, and even went one-on-one against star forward Tyler Hansbrough, a 6-foot, 9-inch, 245-pound bruiser. The team reportedly went easy on the 6-foot, 2-inch presidential candidate and avoided hard fouls.

Mr. Obama, a longtime basketball fan, played on his high school team in Hawaii and still often participates in pickup games, sometimes against campaign volunteers.

ENDORSEMENT WATCH

Senator Obama snagged the support of two superdelegates yesterday, while one declared for Senator Clinton. Rep. Ben Chandler of Kentucky announced he would support Mr. Obama, saying he was impressed with the candidate’s message and character, the Associated Press reported. A Democratic National Committee official from Iowa, Richard Machaceck, also decided to back Mr. Obama yesterday, according to a report in the Des Moines Register.