Last-minute maneuvers before Super Tuesday

Sen. John McCain, buoyed by new polls and endorsements, was said by Republicans to be in a commanding position Sunday as he headed toward coast-to-coast primaries that could effectively hand him the Republican presidential nomination. In a display of confidence, McCain campaigned in the backyard of his chief rival, Mitt Romney.

A sweep of big states by McCain on Tuesday would reward him with a trove of delegates and could bring the Republican contest to a quick end. That would amount to a remarkable comeback for a campaign that had appeared expired just six months ago.

On the Democratic side, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama were enmeshed in a tough national fight, illustrated by polls showing the race had tightened both nationally and in key states voting Tuesday where Clinton had once enjoyed a comfortable lead. They include California, Missouri, New Jersey and Arizona.

Aides to Clinton and Obama said Sunday that they now believed their contest, unlike the Republicans', could extend well beyond the Feb. 5 multistate primary, the day Clinton had once expected to nail down the nomination.

The candidates, already struggling this week to deal with the challenges of campaigning in more than 20 states that hold contests Tuesday, faced a new encumbrance Sunday as the Super Bowl forced them to truncate their schedules. The campaigns went dark in deference to the game between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants, with home audiences in some of the more significant states that vote Tuesday: Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey.

But they certainly made the most of their shortened time, holding rallies, starting new television advertisements and, in Obama's case, accepting another endorsement from the Kennedy family. Maria Shriver, the wife of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and daughter of Eunice Kennedy, announced her support, adding force to Obama's growing strength in that state. She appeared at a rally in Los Angeles with Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Caroline Kennedy that reflected another attempt by Obama to undercut Clinton's advantage among women voters.

Romney, in a last-minute switch of plans, decided to fly to California today. His aides argued that McCain had left that flank vulnerable by his decision to head to Massachusetts. And Romney attempted to discredit McCain among conservatives by attacking his record on immigration and the environment.

"Yesterday, Barack Obama said there's not a dime's worth of difference between he and Sen. McCain on illegal immigration," Romney said at a rally outside Chicago. "I'm afraid it's going to be real hard to win the White House if there's not much difference between our nominee and theirs, and that's why I'm going to make sure that we stand for Republican ideals and win the White House on that platform."

McCain was already looking to what he hoped would be his future, incorporating an unusual attack on Clinton as part of his standard denunciation of federal-budget earmarks. He made the remarks in Fairfield, Conn., where he was escorted by a Democrat turned independent, Sen. Joe Lieberman.

"In her short time in the United States Senate, the senator from New York, Sen. Clinton, has gotten $500 million worth of pork-barrel projects," he said. "My friends, that kind of thing is going to stop when I'm president of the United States."

Clinton and Obama both tussled, at a distance, over which of the two of them would be the better general-election candidate in a campaign that many Democrats now think will be waged against McCain, a Republican with a history of drawing strong support from independent voters. Clinton, her voice hoarse and raspy, responded to one question about this by pointing to her unexpected victory in her first race for Senate in New York.

"You know, I hear all these folks talking about who is and isn't electable — and they said all the same things in New York," she added, noting that voter support for her expanded and deepened over time. "I trust the voters — frankly, that's who matters.

"One thing about me — I've already been through tough campaigns, and I think that says something about me," she said. "My opponent hasn't had to go through that baptism of fire. And in a general election, you know what's going to happen to our nominee. Let's not kid ourselves."

Obama raised similar questions about Clinton as he, too, raised the specter of a McCain candidacy this fall and reminded his audience that Clinton had initially voted to support the war in Iraq.

"If John McCain is the nominee, then the Democratic Party has to ask itself, 'Do you want a candidate who has similar policies to John McCain on the war in Iraq or somebody who can offer a stark contrast?' " Obama said. "See, when I'm the nominee, John McCain won't be able to say that 'You were for this war in Iraq,' because I wasn't. He won't be able to say I followed the Bush-Cheney doctrine of not talking to leaders we don't like, because I don't."

A blizzard of state and national polls showed Clinton and Obama in a tight race, but with a significant number of voters still undecided. In the CBS News poll, Clinton and Obama are the choice of 41 percent each of the Democratic primary voters. Obama also has narrowed the gap in a number of key states voting Tuesday.

The polls this weekend suggest the Republican contest is less in flux, with McCain having staked out a significant lead over Romney and a third candidate, former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas.

Also

UAW waiting: The head of the United Auto Workers said Sunday his union will aggressively work to elect either Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama to the White House, but reiterated that it will not endorse either one for the Democratic nomination. "The stakes in this election could not be any higher. Our jobs are on the line," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger told about 1,000 union activists assembled in Washington, D.C., for a political conference.

News from Lake Wobegon: Garrison Keillor, host of public radio's "A Prairie Home Companion," has endorsed Democratic Sen. Barack Obama for president, Obama's campaign announced Sunday. "I'm happy to support your candidacy, which is so full of promise for our country," the best-selling author and humorist wrote in a letter declaring his support.