The Democratic Elections of 2008

An American Archbishop has objected to a primary election campaign appearance by Hillary Clinton at a Roman Catholic university because of her voting record on abortion.

Jose Gomez, the Archbishop of San Antonio, released a statement noting that Mrs Clinton and some other presidential candidates’ support for abortion and embryonic stem cell research were not in line with Catholic values.

Mrs Clinton held a rally at St Mary’s University, the oldest Catholic college in the city, on Wednesday evening.

“I was neither advised nor consulted by the university before the decision was made to have Senator Clinton speak at the university,” the Archbishop said.

Mrs Clinton, the former First Lady, is locked in a tight battle with Barack Obama to win the Democratic nomination to run for the White House.

After a series of sweeping wins over Mrs Clinton, the Illinois senator said he will turn his attention to the troubled US economy in a bid to build momentum for his campaign.

He blamed both Mrs Clinton and his Republican rivals for the ailing US economy as he overtook the former First Lady in the delegate race for the first time.

After resounding victories in the Potomac primaries, and in four other states at the weekend, the 46-year-old said Americans were losing their jobs and savings due to “a failure of leadership and imagination in Washington”.

Mrs Clinton, who has lost two key members of staff and has failed to win any state since the Super Tuesday elections last week, made no reference to her string of defeats as the results came in.

Instead, she turned her attention to Texas, which goes to the polls on March 4, in a move which many observers likened to Rudy Giuliani’s failed strategy in Florida.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped nearly 250 points amid fears that the US could enter a recession, as consumers reduce their spending.

The benchmark index shed 246.79 points, or 1.91%, to end at 12,606.30 while the Nasdaq declined 1.95%.

A warning by American Express a day earlier, that spending was slowing and defaults would rise, fuelled jitters.

Investors are worried that major banks are yet to reveal the full impact of their exposure to the housing slowdown.

The financials are going to continue to be a problem

A report in the New York Times on Friday said leading investment bank Merrill Lynch could see as much as $15bn in losses, stemming from its exposure to the sub-prime crisis.

“The financials are going to continue to be a problem,” said Michael Church, portfolio manager at Church Capital Management.

Nerves surrounding the financial sector are increasing, ahead of imminent earnings statements from major banks.

Analysts say there is still much uncertainty about the extent to which banks will have to write off mortgage related loans.

Amex fell more than 10% on Friday, while Countrywide Financial plunged 18%.

Earlier in the day US banking giant Bank of America, said it would buy Countrywide Financial, the country’s biggest mortgage lender, in a $4bn (£2.04bn) deal.

Countrywide was a key player in the sub-prime market, which targets those with limited credit records or unpredictable incomes.

During the housing boom, many people took out mortgages while borrowing costs were lower.

However, as US interest rates have risen over the past two years, many borrowers have defaulted on payments they can no longer afford.

source:

BBC News