Pat Dollard | Young Americans

IN THE HEADLINES

Romney repeats vow to rebuild Mich. economy as he campaigns there … Racially tinged disputes heat up between Clinton and Obama … Edwards calls for ban on coal-fired power plants … Giuliani looks for votes in Florida—but just one per person, please … Huckabee tells Mich. supporters he understands struggles of working-class people … McCain defends S.C. mailers on Mitt Romney record … Thompson focuses on his national security plans

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Romney opposes auto industry bailout

DETROIT (AP)—Republican Mitt Romney on Monday repeated his recent vow to do the best of any of the presidential contenders at rebuilding Michigan’s sagging economy, but he rejected an outright government bailout of the auto industry.

“I’m not open to a bailout, but I am open to a workout,” he told about 600 people at the Detroit Economic Club. “Washington should not be a benefactor, but it can and must be a partner.”

During the final day of campaigning before the Michigan primary, the former Massachusetts governor, who was born in Michigan, also said he would convene an auto industry summit within his first 100 days as president to seek a comprehensive solution. He said it was critical, because the ills affecting auto manufacturing could spread to the aerospace, pharmaceutical and other industries if they country does not unify around fixes.

“I hear people from time to time say, ‘Well, that’s Michigan’s problem,’ or they say something like, ‘Well, it’s the car companies, they just brought it on themselves.’ But that’s where they’re wrong. What Michigan is feeling will be felt by the entire nation, unless we win the economic battle here,” he said.

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Race becomes issue among Democrats

LAS VEGAS (AP)—Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have become embroiled in racially tinged disputes as large numbers of black voters prepare to get their first say in the Democratic presidential campaign.

The candidates and their surrogates are heating up their rhetoric, and it could prove to be combustible beyond South Carolina’s Jan. 26 primary.

Clinton, on defense over comments that she and her husband made regarding Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy and Obama’s fitness for the White House, tried to turn the tables on her top primary rival. She accused his campaign of looking to score political points by distorting their words.

Hillary Clinton had said King’s dream of racial equality was realized only when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of while Bill Clinton said Illinois Sen. Obama was telling a “fairy tale” about his opposition to the Iraq war. Black leaders have criticized their comments, and Obama said Sunday her comment about King was “ill-advised.”

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Edwards opposes coal-fired power plant

PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. (AP)—Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Monday said a proposed coal-fired power plant shouldn’t be built in northeastern South Carolina, continuing his call for a ban on those facilities.

“My view is that needs to stop,” Edwards said of the $1 billion, 600- megawatt plant set to be built along the Pee Dee River in this early voting state. Santee Cooper officials are awaiting a final permit from state environmental regulators.

The utility’s officials say they need the plant to meet energy demands, and can’t wait for newer or cleaner energy to be developed, but have said the plant will be environmentally responsible. They hope to have it running about 2012.

Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, told about 150 people at a campus of Coastal Carolina University that coal-fired plants are “taking a bad situation and making it worse.”

He also said he was opposed to new nuclear power plants and that the U.S. has no credibility in global warming discussions. “We are the worst polluter on the planet,” Edwards said.

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Giuliani encourages voters in Florida

NAPLES, Fla. (AP)—Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani told supporters in Florida that a vote for him was a vote for the country’s future—but cautioned them against voting too often.

“I want you to make sure you vote early,” the former New York major told about 200 people gathered at Bay House restaurant here.

“And often!” someone in the audience added.

Giuliani responded with repeated “no’s.” “We don’t want some recount problem! No re-count problem this time. We want to win fair, square, one vote,” he said.

Giuliani also told the audience Democratic presidential candidates will raise taxes. “That is called bad change,” he said.

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Huckabee: Lost jobs result of tax system

AUGUSTA, Mich. (AP)—Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said he’s the only Republican candidate who understands the struggles of working- class people in Michigan.

“If you want somebody who believes the status quo is just fine, you have plenty of choices,” he told about 100 people at an early morning rally in Augusta, Mich.

Huckabee later toured a metal plant in Lansing, Mich. Speaking afterward to about 200 Demmer Corp. employees, Huckabee made his familiar common-man pitch.

“Some of the toughest competition your company faces is from its own government, whose tax policies, whose regulatory policies, the threat of litigation, makes it real tough to stay in business,” he said. “It isn’t real sensible to me that the toughest reason to keep jobs is not that somebody across the world is competing against your business, but it’s that your own government won’t get off your back.”

Huckabee is pitching the “FAIR Tax,” which would eliminate income taxes and other taxes in favor of a 23 percent national sales tax, with rebates for poor and working-class people.

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McCain defends mailers on Romney

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP)—White House hopeful John McCain on Monday defended mailers his campaign sent to South Carolina households about rival Mitt Romney’s record on taxes.

The mailer claims Romney raised taxes by $700 million.

“It’s not negative campaigning. It’s what his position is,” McCain told reporters at a stop in Holland, Mich.

“We won’t go tit for tat. But we will respond,” the Arizona senator said.

McCain had several scheduled stops Monday in Michigan, which holds its primary Tuesday. He told more than 1,000 people gathered at a high school in Kalamazoo, Mich., that the state’s “best days are ahead of it.”

“The best, most productive workers in the world reside in this state,” he said. “We’re not going to leave these people behind. That’s what America is supposed to be all about.”

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Thompson: U.S. must rebuild its military

AIKEN, S.C. (AP)—Presidential candidate Fred Thompson emphasized his plans for national security Monday as he campaigned in South Carolina, a state he has said is critical for his White House bid.

The former Tennessee senator said the U.S. must rebuild its military. He will sit down with congressional leaders, but if that doesn’t work, Thompson said he’ll simply going over their heads.

“We have to understand we are in a conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan that’s part of a wider effort in a global war that’s been declared on us by radical Islam,” he told several hundred people gathered at a restaurant.

“The way you avoid a fight is prevail in those situations you find yourself in and be stronger than your adversary,” he said.

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THE DEMOCRATS

Barack Obama makes stops in Nevada. John Edwards talks to voters in South Carolina, while Hillary Rodham Clinton campaigns in New York.

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THE REPUBLICANS

John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney talk to voters in Michigan. Fred Thompson greets voters in South Carolina. Rudy Giuliani visits supporters in Florida.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“When the circus finally comes to town, we’ll certainly have the strongest grass roots operation in the state.”—Brent Seaborn, Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani’s national strategy director, talking to reporters about the Florida primary.

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STAT OF THE DAY:

In South Carolina, where the GOP votes on Jan. 19, white evangelicals account for 53 percent of the state’s likely Republican voters, according to the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.