03/21/2008

By MIKE BAKER  / Associated Press

North Carolina voters, usually a nonentity in presidential primaries, could be the deciding factor in the Democratic presidential nomination this year, former President Bill Clinton said Friday.

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will campaign next week in North Carolina, Bill Clinton told a crowd at a Cary senior center, adding that he expects her to return every week until the state's primary on May 6.

"This whole thing could come down to what you all decide to do in North Carolina," Clinton said to a round of applause. "This is a state which is very much involved in all the promise and all the peril that's going on in the American economy."

North Carolina was once expected to be a victory lap in a nominating process that usually ends during the early contests. But the protracted race has made the state and its 115 delegates a crucial aspect of the race. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois leads Clinton by only 121 delegates, according to an Associated Press tally Friday.

Clinton opened his day in Charlotte, telling veterans at an invitation-only event that Hillary Clinton can provide better health care for troops back from combat and will reduce the number of troops in Iraq. He continued to highlight the military issue later in Cary, accentuating his wife's gender to emphasize his point that more generals have endorsed Clinton than both Obama and Republican candidate John McCain.

"You might wonder why that's so: Why did they endorse the girl for president? All these generals?" Clinton said.

He said that's partially because she's the only member of the Armed Services Committee in the race and also because of her support for wounded veterans.

In Charlotte, Clinton said soldiers injured in Iraq have largely suffered from head injuries and post traumatic stress — injuries he suggested the U.S. ignored during the Vietnam War. Had troops from Vietnam been provided better treatment for such injuries, Clinton said, the nation's number of homeless veterans would be lower than the current 200,000.

"We must never do again what we did after Vietnam," he said.

After listening to Clinton's speech, Jim Campbell, a Vietnam War veteran, said he believed Hillary Clinton was the best candidate but admitted Republicans may have an advantage in winning veteran support.

"I know McCain has a lot of support among vets, especially Vietnam vets," said Campbell, 56. "She can say what she wants, but vets know McCain's been there. He's been in battle. He's the only one in the campaign with any combat experience. And for some vets, that means a lot."

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Associated Press Writer Mitch Weiss contributed to this report from Charlotte.