US presidential race gathers steam ahead of new balloting

WASHINGTON, Saturday (AFP) - The US presidential race gathered steam today as candidates promised fresh initiatives to bolster the lackluster economy ahead of a new round of primaries in the blue-collar state of Michigan.The Midwestern state, home to major US automakers, holds its primaries on Tuesday.

“Frankly, if we can't solve the problems in Michigan and bring Michigan back, what we see there is going to spread to other parts of the entire country and we'll find ourselves playing second fiddle to China,” Republican Mitt Romney told CNN. The former Massachusetts governor said such a scenario was “unacceptable” and called for “an industrial policy which keeps America strong and the leader of the world.”

A management consultant before running an investment firm, Romney hopes his business experience will win over voters in Michigan, where his father served as governor and where he hopes to revive his campaign after disappointing defeats in Iowa and New Hampshire.

But his rivals for the Republican party's nomination are not ready to cede any ground, with candidates at a debate on Thursday night touting their economic acumen while urging to extend tax cuts put in place by President George W. Bush. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who hastily added campaign stops in Michigan after a recent poll showed he could carry the state, wooed business leaders in Detroit on Friday with promises to level the playing field with foreign competitors and to eliminate the income tax with a national sales tax.

“What kind of crazy system is it that doesn't reward the hard work that makes America great?” he said. Speaking in the grand ballroom of a towering Masonic temple from the glory days of the now devastated automotive industry which is now surrounded by abandoned buildings in the center of Detroit, Huckabee also paid tribute to the manufacturers who served as the “arsenal of democracy” in World War II.

The focus on the economy comes amid rising concern among voters not only in Michigan, home to a troubled car industry and an unemployment rate of 7.4 percent, but the rest of the country amid a housing crisis and rising gasoline prices. Some 26 percent of Democratic voters and 21 percent of Republicans say the economy is their top priority in choosing a candidate, compared to nine percent and 12 percent in September.

Major Democratic candidates are boycotting Michigan this year because the state Democratic Party scheduled its primary in defiance of national party rules. The Democratic National Committee stripped Michigan of all its delegates to the national convention because it moved its primaries ahead of February 5 without permission.

That is why Democratic hopefuls are honing in on economic themes as they prepare for caucuses on January 19 in the western state of Nevada, home to a growing Hispanic population and influential trade unions. Former first lady Hillary Clinton proposed a 70 million dollar stimulus package on Friday to ease the burden of rising heating costs and to help “thousands” of families threatened with home foreclosures amid tightening credit and falling house prices.