Clinton buoyed by polls and endorsement in Nevada

Dan Glaister in Las Vegas

Hillary Clinton speaks at Citizens of Zion Missionary Baptist church in Compton, California. Photograph: Phil McCarten/Reuters

Hillary Clinton made a final campaign appearance in Las Vegas today before heading out across Nevada in the final hours before Saturday's Democratic caucus.
Buoyed by a poll in one newspaper showing her with a nine-point lead and an endorsement from another paper, Clinton sought to shore up her base by stressing the economic and social themes that have formed the bedrock of her campaign.

Speaking to small business owners and employees at a Las Vegas print shop on Friday morning Clinton assailed President Bush's economic record.

"I want to get back to where we were before President Bush became president," she told the audience packed into a small office, a time, she said, when the budget was balanced and the economy was running a surplus.
Bush was not Clinton's only target, however. She also took a dig at Barack Obama. "My leading opponent the other day said he thought Republicans had the better ideas for the last 10 to 15 years," she said. "That's not how I remember the last 10 to 15 years."

But while supporters held up copies of the Las Vegas Review Journal, which splashed the results of its polling on the front page, showing Clinton on 41%, Obama on 32% and Edwards on 14%, another poll showed the race much tighter in the state.

A Reuters-Zogby poll had Clinton on 42% with Obama closing on her with 37% and Edwards trailing with 12%. The Reuters-Zogby poll was conducted between Tuesday and Thursday, a day later than the Review-Journal poll.

The latter showed Clinton winning by a wide margin among her key Democratic constituencies, women and Latinos. She trailed Obama among men and African-American voters.

In its endorsement of Clinton, the Las Vegas Sun echoed her campaign lines, saying that she had the experience and the resolve needed to defeat the Republicans in November and to lead the country from the first day of her presidency.

"Our country needs someone who can be president from Day One after taking the oath of office. Her steadiness and resolve certainly would aid u sin re-establishing better relations with other nations."

Clinton herself echoed that theme at her Friday morning campaign stop, when asked by a supporter what she planned to do with her husband if she were elected.

"Good question," she remarked, before saying, "I'm excited about the role that my husband can play in repairing relations around the world. We have a lot of repair work to do."

She was due to make three further stops during the day, in Elko and Reno, before returning to the Las Vegas area for a final rally with her husband before the caucuses open on Saturday morning.