From Beacon Journal wire services

LORDSTOWN: With Barack Obama spending Valentine's Day in Chicago, Hillary Rodham Clinton romanced blue-collar Democrats at General Motors' sprawling sedan assembly plant near Youngstown and then darted around Ohio in her first major push into this March 4 primary state that may decide her political fate.

In stop after stop, she blamed unscrupulous bankers and lenders for the mortgage crisis that has hit Ohio particularly hard.

Outside Dayton she had a
round-table discussion with three families facing the threat of foreclosure. Then, before a crowd of about 2,500 people at Ohio State University in Columbus, she recalled their stories and blamed the Bush administration for not acting swiftly enough to stem the problem.

She also touted her image as a fighter, hoisting a pair of blue boxing gloves to symbolize her willingness to mix it up with Obama, who has wrested the overall lead in delegates from Clinton after running off eight consecutive primary and caucus victories.

If Clinton has been unnerved by recent setbacks, she wasn't showing it Thursday, strolling through her campaign planes to offer assorted chocolates to reporters.

She was buoyed by a new Quinnipiac University poll showing her with a 21 percent lead in the Buckeye State and a 16-point edge in Pennsylvania.

And Clinton finally was declared the winner of the popular vote in New Mexico's Feb. 5 Democratic caucus — picking up one extra delegate nine days after Super Tuesday voting ended.

The state announced its results after a marathon hand count of 17,000 provisional ballots that had to be given to voters because of long lines and a shortage of ballots. The final statewide count gave Clinton a 1,709-vote edge over Obama, 73,105 or 48.8 percent of the total vote to 71,396 or 47.6 percent.

With the addition of New Mexico's delegate, the national delegate count stood at 1,276 for Obama and 1,220 for Clinton.

Backing Obama

Obama, meanwhile, won the backing of the United Food and Commercial Workers union and was expected to get the endorsement of the Service Employees International Union ahead of Tuesday's primary in Wisconsin.

The Illinois senator took a day off the trail to celebrate Valentine's Day with his family in Chicago.

While Obama was not actively campaigning Thursday, his campaign operation remained in full swing, questioning Clinton's devotion to fighting special interests since she has ''taken more money from Washington lobbyists than any Republican running for president.''

His campaign also released a 60-second radio advertisement that will be aired across Ohio. The spot emphasizes his plan to tackle economic reforms.

Obama on Wednesday visited a GM plant in Janesville, Wis., to unveil a 10-year, $210 billion economic plan to create jobs in construction and environmental industries.

Democratic debate

Obama and Clinton will participate in an MSNBC debate at Cleveland State University on Feb. 26, with Brian Williams and Tim Russert as moderators.

Clinton confirmed she will be there despite her anger over an MSNBC reporter's remark about daughter Chelsea.

Clinton's team said last week she was rethinking the appearance out of anger at David Shuster for suggesting the campaign had ''pimped out'' Chelsea, 27, by having her place phone calls to celebrities and delegates. Last month, MSNBC's Chris Matthews apologized for having suggested that Clinton was a presidential candidate because of her husband's infidelities.

''Although the campaign still has concerns, we did not want millions of Ohioans to miss out on an important date,'' said Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson.

Obama's string of primary and caucus victories in the Democratic race make the debates that much more important to the Clinton campaign as it awaits primaries in Ohio and Texas.

Shuster was suspended for the remark, made Feb. 7 when he was a guest host for Tucker Carlson. MSNBC said Thursday the suspension will end Feb. 22.