Senior aide to Clinton charged with DUI

NASHUA, N.H. — A senior adviser to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton was arrested and charged with aggravated drunken driving a day before the New Hampshire primary.

Nashua police said Sidney Blumenthal was arrested early Monday after an officer pulled over a car traveling 70 mph in a 30 mph zone. Blumenthal, 59, is a journalist and former White House adviser to President Clinton; Blumenthal now serves as an unpaid adviser on Hillary Clinton's campaign.

"I asked if he was here with a campaign. He said he was here with Clinton," Sgt. Mike Masella, one of the arresting officers, told newsweek.com.

Masella said Blumenthal told him he got lost after leaving a restaurant in Manchester, about 20 miles away, to return to his hotel.

Smelling alcohol, officers administered a field-sobriety test, which Blumenthal failed, they said. He declined to take a Breathalyzer test.

Blumenthal spent about four hours at a police station before being bailed out Monday, Masella said. Blumenthal will be arraigned this month.

A Clinton campaign spokeswoman had no comment.

Romney, teacher reunited at speech

LIVONIA, Mich. — Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney ran into his first-grade teacher — Gloria Blazo, 78, of Novi — as he was shaking hands Saturday after a speech to the conservative Americans for Prosperity.

"He was one person you never had to reprimand about talking at all," Blazo said. "He worked hard, and he has lots of strengths."

Student and teacher spent the 1953-54 school year together at Vaughn Elementary School in Bloomfield Hills.

South Carolina paper endorses McCain

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina's largest newspaper Saturday endorsed John McCain in the state's Republican primary.

The State's editorial board wrote that its choice boiled down to McCain or Mike Huckabee.

It said former Arkansas Gov. Huckabee was "an exciting newcomer ... But his utter lack of knowledge of foreign affairs is unsettling."

McCain, on the other hand, "has the necessary experience, not just in time served, but in the quality of understanding he exhibits across the board," the paper said.

2 more senators support Obama

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has won the endorsement of two fellow Democratic senators from the heartland — Ben Nelson, a popular moderate in largely Republican Nebraska, and Claire McCaskill from Missouri, historically a bellwether in presidential contests.

Nelson said Saturday he believes Obama has ability to bridge the partisan divide and to carry other Democratic candidates to victory in 2008.

McCaskill plans to announce her support for the Illinois senator today, according to an Obama aide and a McCaskill staffer who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Seattle Times news services