Former president proud of battles
MANSFIELD, Ohio (AP) - Former President Bill Clinton struck back at his wife's critics, defending her role in the divisive political battles waged with Republicans in the 1990s.
"I'm kind of proud of those fights," he told a crowd of about 200 people gathered Friday at a middle school in Mansfield.
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama often depicts his rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, as tied down by the past, selling himself as the candidate of the future. He said Thursday that he would be more willing than Clinton to work with Republicans.
At his last stop on a long day of campaigning across Ohio in the run-up to Tuesday's primary, Bill Clinton displayed no signs of slowing down.
He told about 200 people in New Philadelphia that the former first lady was a public servant first, an election official second.
"She is a lifetime public servant but a recent elected official," he told the crowd of about 200 gathered at Kent State University. "Her opponent has been in more elections than her."
Clinton said it was his idea to visit the rural, less frequented parts of Ohio on his wife's behalf. He said he wants her to focus on bigger cities like Cleveland and Columbus and do television advertisements.
"I like to go to the small towns and the out-of-the-way places where other politicians don't go," Clinton said.
He acknowledged earlier in the day that voters are torn between Obama and Clinton, but he also said his wife is the only candidate who has proved she can bring about change.
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McCain seeks distance from pastor
PHOENIX (AP) - John McCain is refusing to renounce the endorsement of a prominent Texas televangelist who Democrats say peddles anti-Catholic and other intolerant speech.
Instead, the Republican presidential candidate issued a statement Friday afternoon saying he had unspecified disagreements with the San Antonio megachurch leader, John Hagee. Hagee endorsed him at a news conference Wednesday in San Antonio.
"However, in no way did I intend for his endorsement to suggest that I in turn agree with all of Pastor Hagee's views, which I obviously do not," McCain said in the statement.
His campaign issued the statement after two days of criticism from the Democratic National Committee, the Catholic League and Catholics United.
Democrats quoted Hagee as saying the Catholic Church conspired with Nazis against the Jews and that Hurricane Katrina was God's retribution for homosexual sin, and they recited his demeaning comments about women and flip remarks about slavery.
"Hagee's hate speech has no place in public discourse, and McCain's embrace of this figure raises serious questions about John McCain's character and his willingness to do anything to win," said Tom McMahon, executive director of the Democratic National Committee.
McCain was pressed on the issue in Round Rock, Texas. Hagee "supports what I stand for and believe in," McCain said.
"When he endorses me, that does not mean that I endorse everything that he stands for and believes in," McCain said. "I don't have to agree with everyone who endorses my campaign."
He added that he was "proud" of Hagee's spiritual leadership of his congregation at the 17,000-member Cornerstone Church.
