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ELECTION 2008: ON THE TRAIL

February 17, 2008

McCain lead grows. John McCain, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, picked up a total of 50 GOP national convention delegates from Michigan and Louisiana yesterday. Republicans met in both states to divvy up delegates. Thirty-two of Louisiana's 47 delegates said they intend to vote for McCain, and another three are also expected to back him. And most Michigan delegates say they will back McCain now that Mitt Romney is out, although it's unclear how many will go to the convention. McCain has 903 total delegates nationally, Huckabee 245 and Romney 253.

First daughter redux? Chelsea Clinton was raised in a circle of silence when her father was president. Now Chelsea, 27, has emerged as a top surrogate for her mother on the campaign trail. She had once vowed to avoid campaigning. "I live and work in New York and have had a private life - at least, did until about five weeks ago," she said in Dayton, Ohio. On the trail, she's tried to humanize her parents. She said in Omaha her father built their night around the TV show "Grey's Anatomy." And when a student asked about health care, she worked her mother's wish to be a grandmother into her answer.