US: Two weeks ago at a campaign rally in Iowa Senator John Kerry pubicly embraced a Vietnam vet whose life he saved 30 years ago.
Yesterday in a similar election stunt in Oklahoma, retired general Mr Wesley Clark appeared with a soldier who he said saved his life in Vietnam.
The batle for the veteran vote comes as Mr Clark and Senator John Edwards emerge as the main threat to Mr Kerry in seven states where voting by Democrats for a presidential nominee takes place tomorrow.
In South Carolina, with jobs and the economy the main issues, Mr Edwards leads Mr Kerry, and in Oklahoma and Arizona, the front-runner is being challenged by Mr Clark who emphasises his leadership qualities. Senator Kerry has a stong lead in Missouri and North Dakota and three other states. A total of 269 of the 2,162 delegates needed to win the nomination are at stake tomorrow.
Mr Clark was introduced at a rally yesterday by Mr Mike McClintic, a former army private who said he pushed him to the ground after Mr Clark was shot in the hand in Vietnam in 1970. Mr Clark, an infantry company commander, had not seen Mr McClintic since then - just as Mr Kerry had not seen the veteran whose life he saved until last month. Former front-runner Mr Howard Dean does not expect to do well this week, except in New Mexico, and is aiming to win major primary elections elsewhere in March. He said yesterday he regretted spending most of the $41 million his campaign raised last year on Iowa and New Hampshire, where he failed to come first. He attacked Mr Kerry as a Washington insider who had raised more money from lobbyists over the past 15 years than any other senator. Mr Kerry said he did not take money from groups, but from individuals, some of whom were lobbyists.