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Pennsylvania win gives Clinton run legs

PHILADELPHIA, April 23 (UPI) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, saying she is a fighter, pressed for continuing her bid for the Democratic U.S. presidential nomination.

Rival Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, however, focused his attention on presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona, mentioning him more times than Clinton when he conceded the Pennsylvania Democratic primary to Clinton.

Obama leads Clinton in the popular vote, states won and pledged delegates, the New York Times said Wednesday. However, Clinton has won the states political analysts say are important to Democrats to win the White House in November.

During her victory speech in Philadelphia -- backdrop for the "Rocky" movie series -- Clinton acknowledged people within the party who want her to end her candidacy.

"Some people counted me out and said to drop out, but the American people don't quit, and they deserve a president who doesn't quit either," Clinton said.

She also noted Obama's huge war chest, asking her supporters to contribute via her Web Site "and show your support because the future of this campaign is in your hands." Clinton campaign officials said they brought in at least $2.5 million in less than four hours.

Clinton win shows fissures within party

NASHVILLE, April 23 (UPI) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton's win in Pennsylvania exposed fissures within the Democratic party which could affect the party's success in November, observers say.

The New York senator took a 55 percent-to-45 percent win in the Pennsylvania primary over Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, unofficial results indicate. The victory demonstrated Clinton's ability to connect with blue-collar workers, a demographic elusive for Obama, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

Her win also underscored concerns about Obama's appeal as a general election candidate, the Times said, as exit polls showed divisions along racial, economic, sex and values within the party among Democrats.

Only 60 percent of Democratic Catholic voters said they would vote for Obama in a general election; 21 percent indicated they would vote for Sen. John McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, exit polls show.

"This is exactly what I was afraid was going to happen," Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, an uncommitted superdelegate, told the Times. "They are going to just keep standing there and pounding each other and bloodying each other, and no one is winning."

Both candidates have strengths and weaknesses, Bredesen said.

"The sooner it is we end this and try to figure out how to address those weaknesses, the better," he said.

Zanu-PF wins recount by one vote

HARARE, Zimbabwe, April 23 (UPI) -- The Zimbabwean ruling Zanu-PF party said Wednesday it won the first of the 23 recounted districts by a single vote.

The official Zimbabwean electoral commission said a recount of the vote in the Goromonzi West constituency handed Zanu-PF, the ruling party of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, a victory by one vote, the BBC said.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change, whose Morgan Tsvangirai ran against Mugabe, says the recount is an attempt to refute its parliamentary election.

An editorial in the state-owned Herald newspaper calls for a power sharing transitional government to take power with Mugabe at the lead.

"It stands to reason that, the transitional government of national unity, negotiated by the two leading contending parties … should be led by the incumbent president," The Times of London quotes the newspaper.

Tsvangirai's party opposes the calls for a unity government saying it won the March presidential elections outright. The election results haven't been released.

Man indicted for ricin, gun possession

LAS VEGAS, April 23 (UPI) -- The man found to have the toxic substance ricin in his possession has been indicted by a grand jury in Las Vegas on charges related to the toxin and firearms.

The panel Tuesday returned a true bill in which Roger Von Bergendorff was charged with possession of the biological toxin derived from ground castor beans, possession of unregistered firearms and possession of firearms not identified with a serial number, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Wednesday.

Bergendorff, 57, appeared in federal court for the first time last week, but did not enter a plea. He was arrested the day he was discharged from the hospital where he was taken from his hotel room Feb. 14 after complaining he was unable to breathe.

While hospitalized, hotel employees entered his room, discovering the ricin and two weapons. During a search, law enforcement personnel found a vial and beaker of ricin, which officials said was enough to kill 522 people. Investigators also found a drawing of an "injection device disguised as a pen" in a storage space Bergendorff rented in Utah.

Federal authorities said they do not believe Bergendorff is a terrorist.

Bergendorff's arraignment, during which he will enter a plea, is scheduled for May 2.

No Child Left Behind law faces changes

WASHINGTON, April 23 (UPI) -- U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is proposing changes in the federal No Child Left Behind law aimed at reducing the number of high school dropouts.

The Bush administration wants all states to use the same formula to calculate high school graduation rates in an effort to force schools to ensure that more students earn diplomas, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The proposed changes would require low-performing schools to do a better job of informing parents about the right to government-funded tutoring and transfer to a better-performing school.

Renewal of the six-year-old No Child Left Behind law is currently stalled in Congress.

"While I will continue working with legislators to renew this law, I also realize that students and families and teachers and schools need help now," Spellings said Tuesday during a visit to Detroit, which has one of the county's highest school dropout rates.

The proposed changes will take effect in November after a public comment period.

U.S. leads world in prison population

NEW YORK, April 23 (UPI) -- Experts on crime and punishment say the United States has the harshest sentences and the most prisoners of any country in the world.

Records kept at King's College in London reveal that with 2.3 million people behind bars, the United States has almost a quarter of the world's prisoners even though it has less than 5 percent of the population, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

China, which has four times as many citizens, is a distant second to the United States with 1.6 million prisoners, the report said.

Michael H. Tonry, an author and leading authority on crime policy, says the difference in incarceration policies between the United States and Europe could be related to having an economy that is more capitalistic and a political culture that is less social democrat.

Tonry says prison sentences in the United States have become "vastly harsher than in any other country to which the United States would ordinarily be compared."