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Clinton camp frustrated, placing blame

CLEVELAND, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign strategy going into Tuesday's debate in Cleveland against Barack Obama is to focus solely on her opponent's record, aides say.

Frustrated by failed efforts to counter Obama's surge heading into next week's Democratic primaries in Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont, the Clinton campaign has begun finger-pointing to assign blame for her slip in the polls, The Politico reported Tuesday.

Communications chief Howard Wolfson blamed media Monday, alleging news outlets praise the Obama, a U.S. senator for Illinois, when he criticizes Clinton, D-N.Y., but treat Clinton critically when she draws differences with him.

Clinton aides also voiced irritation about being accused of circulating a photograph of Obama in traditional African dress during a visit to Kenya. Clinton denied responsibility.

Some Clinton supporters also expressed frustration at Clinton herself. They said her comments meant to be funny or show spark come off as waspish, The Politico said.

What will Clinton do during the debate at Cleveland State University?

"She's going to challenge in a healthy, successful way," Wolfson said. "Voters will see that she's the right person to be commander in chief, the right person to manage the economy and the right person to beat John McCain."

Poll indicates tight presidential race

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- A USA Today/Gallup poll indicates U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., will face a tight race for the presidency -- no matter who his Democratic opponent is.

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and McCain are statistically tied in a theoretical general election contest, separated by 1 percentage point. In a matchup against Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., McCain holds a 4 percentage point edge -- still a dead heat when the 3 percentage point margin of error is considered, the poll released Tuesday indicated.

The ability of McCain to run a close race among Democrats suggests his appeal goes beyond Republican Party loyalists, the poll results indicate.

McCain runs neck-and-neck in the poll with Obama among likely independent voters but beats Clinton by 10 percentage points, suggesting he has more bipartisan support than either of the Democratic candidates.

The interpretation provided in the poll implies Democrats will try to cast McCain in a negative light by linking him to the Bush administration and the general discontent with U.S. politics.

The poll results suggested the political climate in U.S. politics favors the Democratic Party. The party has more enthusiastic support and a more favorable approval rating among those interviewed the 1,653 Americans of voting age interviewed by phone from Feb. 21-24.

Software can analyze, forecast terrorism

COLLEGE PARK, Md., Feb. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have developed a software program that can analyze threats and forecast acts of terrorism.

Researchers at the University of Maryland's Institute for Advanced Computer Studies created the Stochastic Opponent Modeling Agents, or SOMA, Terror Organization Portal, allowing analysts to query automatically learned rules on terrorist organization behavior, forecast potential behavior based on those rules and communicate with other analysts examining the same subjects.

The scientists said SOMA is a formal, logical-statistical reasoning framework that uses data about past behavior of terror groups to generate rules about the likely behavior of each of about 30 groups.

"SOMA is a significant joint computer science and social science achievement that will facilitate learning about and forecasting terrorist group behavior based on rigorous mathematical and computational models," said Professor V.S. Subrahmanian, the project's lead investigator.

The project is funded by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

India tests sub-launched ballistic missile

NEW DELHI, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- India reported Tuesday that it had conducted its first test launch of a nuclear-capable, submarine-launched ballistic missile.

NDTV said the K-15 missile wasn't actually fired by a submarine, since India's navy doesn't have a sub equipped for missiles.

Despite its launch from a submerged platform, the launch of the K-15 makes India one of five nations to possess an undersea ballistic missile. The weapon has a range of 435 miles.

Officials told NDTV that the test is a step up for India's nuclear deterrence capability.

New York Philharmonic plays in North Korea

PYONGYANG, North Korea, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- The New York Philharmonic opened its performance in North Korea with a rendition of the U.S. national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner."

The orchestra also played its host country's national anthem "Patriotic Song" at the 90-minute, televised concert Tuesday in a hall packed with about 1,500 people, the Yonhap news agency said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il didn't attend the concert, but Yang Hyong Sup, vice president of the Supreme People's Assembly, sat in the front row for the performance, the report said.

The program included Richard Wagner's "Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin," Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" and George Gershwin's "An American in Paris."