Bush stresses medical efficiency

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - President Bush mounted a tall wooden stool on a stage at a children's hospital and lauded the efficiency and safety of computerizing medical records instead of forcing medical workers to juggle stacks of paper and decipher doctors' scribbles.

"Within 10 years, we want most Americans to have electronic health care records - that means your records," Bush told a hand-picked, supportive audience at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "You not only save money, you improve the quality of care through the spread of good information. It lets these docs do their jobs; it eases the minds of the patients."

The topic might seem incongruous or even a bit random on a day that his presumptive opponent gave a major address on national security, and with all the crises besetting the administration. But Bush's "conversation on health care information technology" was part of a coordinated effort between the White House and the Bush-Cheney campaign to appeal to a broad swath of suburban swing voters who are technologically savvy and are often known as "knowledge workers."

Bush's senior adviser, Karl Rove, targeted "wired workers" in the first year of the administration as one of the groups, along with Catholics and Latinos, among whom the president would try to improve his performance in 2004. The focus on medical technology, which Bush included as a surprise in his State of the Union address in January, is also part of an effort by Bush's aides to expand his plans for health care, which polls as an important issue among independents, beyond the controversies over Medicare and reach voters in their 30s and 40s.

NEW YORK - Former President Bill Clinton said Thursday that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry is smart not to comment daily on every development in Iraq because "he recognizes that he's not the president."

Speaking at his office in Harlem, Clinton said he didn't think the Massachusetts senator was running "too safe a campaign" as some political strategists have suggested. Among the criticism is that Kerry is failing to exploit increasing skepticism about President Bush's handling of the war.

"He recognizes that he's not the president, and he's not, he's the candidate for president, he's not somebody that's supposed to give day-by-day commentary on events," Clinton said. "He's made quite clear what he believes about the major issues in the news today, and I think he's shown a certain reticence."

MADISON, Wis. - Delegates to next month's Green Party convention face a unique choice: Opt against nominating a candidate for president or formally endorse Ralph Nader, who is running for the White House as an independent after shunning the party that nominated him in 1996 and 2000.

Still, Nader's Green supporters believe an endorsement will be enough to help him get on the ballot in many of the 22 states and Washington, D.C., where the party has ballot access.

Delegates to the convention June 23-28 in Milwaukee are not required to nominate anyone for president. They will cast a series of ballots until either a candidate or the choice "no nominee" receives a majority of the votes.

NEW YORK - About 71 percent of American voters believe U.S. Roman Catholic bishops should not publicly pressure Catholic politicians on abortion, according to a survey released Thursday.

And 85 percent said their view of Democrat John Kerry was unchanged by bishops' recent criticism of the Catholic presidential candidate for his support for abortion rights, according to the Quinnipiac University poll.

When broken down by Catholic voters, 66 percent said the bishops should not publicly pressure Catholic lawmakers and 87 percent said the bishops' comments would not influence their vote in November.

Several bishops have sparked a national debate over religion and politics by saying that Kerry should not receive Communion.

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