Candidates Pause to Praise Kennedy

WASHINGTON, May 17, 2008— -- The three top presidential candidates joined in rare agreement today, pausing their campaigning to praise Senate colleague Ted Kennedy before rejoining the campaign against each other.

Kennedy, the liberal lion of the Democratic party, has been an ally of former president Bill Clinton and presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and an occasional partner across party lines with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

For Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., the relationship has been especially close. Kennedy has served as a mentor and an aggressive advocate for the Illinois Democrat.

"Ted Kennedy is a giant in American political history -- he has done more for the health care of others than just about anybody in history and so we are going to be rooting for him and I insist on being optimistic about how it's going to turn out," Obama told reporters.

Hillary Clinton, spurned when Kennedy endorsed Obama, wished the Massachusetts senator a quick recovery.

"We all join together wishing him well," she said.

McCain called Kennedy a friend and a "legendary lawmaker."

That is where the agreement ended. Confident he has wrapped up the nomination, Obama's campaign added stops in Michigan, Florida and other states that have already held their primaries. The candidate continued his campaign focus toward a general election against McCain.

"People are going to realize that they want a clearer choice than John McCain and that I'm confident about that," Obama said. "If you agree that we've had a great foreign policy over the last four, eight years, then you should vote for John McCain. You shouldn't vote for me."

Political analyst Stuart Rothenberg said by going after one another, Obama and McCain are simply accepting Obama's primary victory as inevitable.

"The general election has already started with McCain focusing on Obama and Obama deciding there's no point in wasting time with Sen. Clinton," Rothenberg said.

Determined not to let the campaign pass her by, Clinton vowed to press on, as she stood -- literally in the shadows -- at a Kentucky distillery in front of a stack of Maker's Mark bourbon barrels.

"You don't quit until you finish what you started, and you don't quit on America," Clinton said, to cheers.

In another sign that the campaign has moved ahead, McCain met today with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is often mentioned as a potential vice presidential running mate.

Another potential McCain running mate, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, sought to recover after making a joke at a National Rifle Association Convention on Friday.

After a loud crash was heard offstage, Huckabee said, "That was Barack Obama. He was standing on a chair, about to make a speech and someone pointed a gun at him."