Democratic Presidential Candidate

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon endorsed Sen. Barack Obama yesterday as the Democratic candidate for president. Speaking at Baltimore's historic Orchard Street Church, Dixon said Obama's election would help fulfill the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dreams, heal the country and provide a boost for urban areas. "We have to have the right person to serve this country for all the people right now. And that is why I am supporting Barack Obama," Dixon said from a lectern in the church, which was once a safe house for escaping slaves.

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon endorsed Sen. Barack Obama yesterday as the Democratic candidate for president. Speaking at Baltimore's historic Orchard Street Church, Dixon said Obama's election would help fulfill the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dreams, heal the country and provide a boost for urban areas. "We have to have the right person to serve this country for all the people right now. And that is why I am supporting Barack Obama," Dixon said from a lectern in the church, which was once a safe house for escaping slaves.

Gov. Douglas Wilder was expected to do well in Maryland's early-bird presidential primary. A recent poll showed him leading all Democrats, with strong support coming from blacks in Prince George's County near the governor's home state of Virginia. With Wilder out, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, who came in second in that poll, is the front runner. He has more money, a better organization and, in Maryland and elsewhere, strong support from elected Democratic officials. Eighteen Maryland state senators and 36 delegates have already endorsed him. With Wilder on the sidelines, Clinton, the only Democratic presidential candidate with a history of winning large-scale black support, has suddenly become formidable in what may be the most influential Maryland primary in years.

CHICAGO -- Seeking to woo Jewish votes and contributions, Sen. Barack Obama told an audience in Chicago yesterday that he considers Iran "one of the greatest threats to the United States, Israel and world peace" and pledged to try to end Iran's uranium-enrichment program. As he criticized the Bush administration's Iraq policies, the Democratic presidential candidate suggested that the danger posed by neighboring Iran has grown in recent years because of U.S. policy in the Middle East. "One of the most profound consequences of the administration's failed strategy in Iraq has been to strengthen Iran's strategic position, reduce U.S. credibility and influence in the region, and place Israel and other nations friendly to the United States in greater peril," Obama, an Illinois Democrat, told a regional gathering of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a major pro-Israel lobbying group.

TACOMA, Wash. - The spotlight will be trained on Republicans this week, but Sen. John Kerry and his surrogates launched a pre-emptive strike against the president yesterday. Retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark called George W. Bush incompetent and indecisive. And Kerry said the president's administration amounted to little more than a slew of slogans. Kerry appealed to the party faithful in this divided but Democratic-leaning state to keep working on his behalf. "This is the most important election of our lifetimes," the Democratic presidential candidate said.

CHICAGO -- Seeking to woo Jewish votes and contributions, Sen. Barack Obama told an audience in Chicago yesterday that he considers Iran "one of the greatest threats to the United States, Israel and world peace" and pledged to try to end Iran's uranium-enrichment program. As he criticized the Bush administration's Iraq policies, the Democratic presidential candidate suggested that the danger posed by neighboring Iran has grown in recent years because of U.S. policy in the Middle East. "One of the most profound consequences of the administration's failed strategy in Iraq has been to strengthen Iran's strategic position, reduce U.S. credibility and influence in the region, and place Israel and other nations friendly to the United States in greater peril," Obama, an Illinois Democrat, told a regional gathering of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a major pro-Israel lobbying group.

OCALA, Fla. -- Bill Clinton led a bus caravan across Florida's politically pivotal midsection yesterday, demonstrating his determination to challenge President Bush in a state that hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in 16 years.The Arkansas governor, running mate Al Gore and their wives traced an arc from Daytona Beach through Orlando to Ocala.Mr. Clinton exuded confidence at every stop, despite being dogged by groups of anti-abortion protesters and college Republicans, who held up signs and chanted "four more years" during the candidate's speeches.

The two candidates for Congress from Maryland's new 4th District clashed over taxes, defense and the role of government in a televised debate last night.In a mostly polite 30-minute discussion on Maryland Public Television, state Sen. Albert R. Wynn, a Democrat, faced off against Republican Michele Dyson, a political newcomer and the co-owner of a Silver Spring computer company.The two are vying to represent a predominantly black district that includes portions of Prince George's and Montgomery counties.

In recent days, five potential candidates for president in 1996 have hinted of their ambitions. And that's just among the Democrats. There are 19 -- count 'em -- 19 Republicans mentioned as possible presidential nominees in the next election.It's clear why Democrats are so restless and Republicans so eager. President Clinton, who in 1992 got the smallest share (43 percent) of the popular vote of any successful Democratic presidential candidate in 80 years, has now led his party through an election in which its candidates for Congress got the smallest share of the popular vote (49 percent)

WASHINGTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union was considering a court battle on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate and Baltimore socialist A. Robert Kaufman yesterday after he was denied a spot on the Maryland primary ballot.The possible legal challenge comes in the wake of a decision by Secretary of State Winfield M. Kelly Jr. not to place Mr. Kaufman, a two-time U.S. Senate candidate, on the March 3 primary ballot."Mr. Kaufman will not be on the ballot," explained the assistant secretary of state, Vonzell R. Ward, "because the secretary has determined that Mr. Kaufman's candidacy has not been recognized by the media in Maryland or the United States."

TACOMA, Wash. - The spotlight will be trained on Republicans this week, but Sen. John Kerry and his surrogates launched a pre-emptive strike against the president yesterday. Retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark called George W. Bush incompetent and indecisive. And Kerry said the president's administration amounted to little more than a slew of slogans. Kerry appealed to the party faithful in this divided but Democratic-leaning state to keep working on his behalf. "This is the most important election of our lifetimes," the Democratic presidential candidate said.

Language studies John Kerry, schooled in Europe as a youth, speaks fluent French - but not Spanish - and spent his adult life in New England. He thus lacks easy entree to the fastest-growing minority group, Hispanics, whose votes could decide the presidential election. President Bush, by contrast, speaks Spanish well enough to conduct interviews in Spanish and sprinkle bits of it into his speeches. Democrats, eager to seize any edge they can in the competition for Latino votes, have been boasting that Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, whose mother was Mexican, is the first Hispanic to chair a national political convention.

WASHINGTON - Seeking to blunt any political gains President Bush derives from the war on terror, Howard Dean and other Democratic presidential hopefuls are making the case that the administration's close ties with Saudi Arabia have led it to overlook a major source of anti-American extremism. Seizing on a generally low opinion of Saudi Arabia among Americans, the Democrats have portrayed the administration as so wedded to Middle East oil that it is blind to extremism and terror financed by oil profits.

WASHINGTON - Howard Dean may have started his presidential campaign as an angry insurgent, an outsider from tiny Vermont with few resources beyond an anti-war message and a willingness to take on the Democratic establishment. But today he all but completes his shift from boutique candidate of the Internet and Volvo crowd to a more traditional Democrat - and a front-runner - with considerable backing in dollars, organization and core constituencies. In an achievement that would give his candidacy a boost, the former governor is expected to gain the endorsement of the Service Employees International Union, which, at 1.6 million strong, is the largest, fastest-growing and most ethnically diverse union in the AFL-CIO.

WASHINGTON -- In February 1992, the glow of the nation's Persian Gulf war victory had faded considerably, but President George Bush maintained a hefty 15-point lead in the polls over an ambitious but scandal-tinged Arkansas governor named Bill Clinton.Bush's support would eventually plummet, and he would go on to suffer a 5 percentage-point defeat later that year. It's a change of fortune that Clinton fondly recalls as he rallies the Democratic troops behind Vice President Al Gore, his chosen successor, who has trailed his leading Republican rival in the polls for months.

In recent days, five potential candidates for president in 1996 have hinted of their ambitions. And that's just among the Democrats. There are 19 -- count 'em -- 19 Republicans mentioned as possible presidential nominees in the next election.It's clear why Democrats are so restless and Republicans so eager. President Clinton, who in 1992 got the smallest share (43 percent) of the popular vote of any successful Democratic presidential candidate in 80 years, has now led his party through an election in which its candidates for Congress got the smallest share of the popular vote (49 percent)

WASHINGTON -- There isn't a Democratic presidential candidate in sight, but party leaders are already putting the finishing touches on their next nominee's portrait.Finding someone who resembles that vision could be difficult, however.Interviews with party officials and remarks by speakers at the Democratic National Committee's spring meeting, which ended yesterday, suggest that the Democrats, once again, have sharply conflicting ideas about who should head their national ticket and what its message should be.The Democratic dilemma could be compounded in 1992 if President Bush's extraordinary popularity holds up.With postwar polls showing American voters identifying with the Republican Party in record proportions, Democrats are more nervous than ever about protecting their majorities in the House and Senate and at the state and local level in next year's elections.

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- For many years, those turned off by politics have dreamed of voting for a presidential candidate who was not a typical politician. Someone like Ralph Nader, for instance. Now, they can. Sort of.Mr. Nader, who calls himself a "citizen activist" and has long resisted pleas that he enter politics, is a write-in candidate in next month's New Hampshire presidential primary.He's on the primary ballot as a Democratic presidential candidate in Massachusetts, which holds its primary March 10.The 56-year-old registered Democrat has already made four trips to New Hampshire, where he has enjoyed striking success.

The two candidates for Congress from Maryland's new 4th District clashed over taxes, defense and the role of government in a televised debate last night.In a mostly polite 30-minute discussion on Maryland Public Television, state Sen. Albert R. Wynn, a Democrat, faced off against Republican Michele Dyson, a political newcomer and the co-owner of a Silver Spring computer company.The two are vying to represent a predominantly black district that includes portions of Prince George's and Montgomery counties.

OCALA, Fla. -- Bill Clinton led a bus caravan across Florida's politically pivotal midsection yesterday, demonstrating his determination to challenge President Bush in a state that hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in 16 years.The Arkansas governor, running mate Al Gore and their wives traced an arc from Daytona Beach through Orlando to Ocala.Mr. Clinton exuded confidence at every stop, despite being dogged by groups of anti-abortion protesters and college Republicans, who held up signs and chanted "four more years" during the candidate's speeches.