Washington: Barack Obama has notched three key endorsements, and a new poll shows him narrowing rival Hillary Rodham Clinton's lead in Pennsylvania's hard-fought primary contest, a pivotal race in the Democratic presidential nomination.

Both candidates scoured the northeastern US state yesterday, courting the important union vote with promises to shore up the stumbling economy and reverse the drainage of American jobs overseas.

In Pittsburgh, once a heart of the American steel industry, Clinton promised $7 billion in annual incentives to US businesses that create new jobs at home, saying she would finance the programme by ending tax breaks to firms that move jobs abroad.

Obama accumulated new backing from a former congressman whose powerhouse foreign policy credentials were seen as a boost against Clinton and McCain criticism of the Illinois senator's limited security resume.

Lee Hamilton, the ex-Indiana representative who was the top Democrat on the commission investigating the September 11 attacks, threw his backing to Obama as did Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal.

Obama also snagged backing from the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, an affiliate of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which has endorsed Clinton. The Philadelphia-based union claims about 150,000 members nationwide.

Clinton is well ahead of Obama among Pennsylvania's white voters, 59 per cent to 34 per cent, while Obama gets nearly three of four black votes. She is well ahead among women, while the two are even with men.
Source : PTI