Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) slipped in a compliment — of sorts — about a fellow 2008 hopeful during his appearances on the Iowa stump last weekend.

“I want to wait and hear what John Edwards has to say, he’s kind of good-looking,” Obama envisioned Iowa caucus-goers from the small town of Clinton telling themselves. During an appearance in West Burlington, Iowa, the phrase appeared again, this time with Edwards as “kind of cute.”

— Elana Schor 

2008 Dems all rejected Gonzales; GOP mum

As the attorney general scrambles to keep his job amid the escalating U.S. attorney controversy, the Feb. 3, 2005 Senate confirmation vote on Alberto Gonzales will likely not be used as campaign fodder — at least not in the Democratic primary.

The Senate confirmed Gonzales, 60-36, with every Democratic presidential candidate in the upper chamber rejecting his nomination.

Meanwhile, every Republican presidential campaign either did not return phone calls or replied “no comment” when asked yesterday if they believe Gonzales should resign.

— Bob Cusack and Heidi Bruggink

Hillary joins forces with Dingell

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) introduced legislation yesterday to expand healthcare coverage for children, an issue she had made a central part of her presidential campaign.

Together with House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.), Clinton unveiled a bill that would reauthorize and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which provides coverage to children in families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid.

By focusing on children, Clinton so far is taking a more modest approach to healthcare than Democratic rivals such as Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), who have proposed establishing universal healthcare for adults and children.

Sen. Clinton, considered the driving force behind President Clinton’s failed universal healthcare proposal, used yesterday’s announcement to claim partial credit for the successes of the politically popular SCHIP during its first 10 years.

“I was proud to help create the State Children’s Health Insurance Program during the Clinton administration and I am proud today to take another important step forward for our children,” Clinton said in a written statement.

— Jeffrey Young

 The Swift Boat antidote

Two Vietnam veterans who mounted an online drive against Sen. John Kerry’s (D-Mass.) 2004 presidential bid are zeroing in on Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) this year, but McCain had a counterpunch at the ready yesterday.

The Arizonan’s campaign e-mailed a personal testimonial from Orson Swindle, the two-time failed House GOP candidate who slept next to McCain during their harrowing imprisonment at the North Vietnamese prison camp nicknamed “the Hanoi Hilton.”

Swindle observed the 34th anniversary of McCain’s release from enemy custody and released a video on his friend’s accomplishments.

“I never could have imagined that one day the man sharing a concrete slab for a bed next to me would be a candidate for president,” Swindler said.

— Elana Schor

 Conyers lobbies Obama

Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), who has formally backed Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), is lobbying the 2008 presidential hopeful to back his universal healthcare bill.

In a recent interview, the House Judiciary Committee chairman told The Hill that Obama “is taking a serious look” at H.R. 676, which has 60 cosponsors, including presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.).

Rangel has said, however, that he is looking to move a healthcare measure through his committee that attracts broad support. No Republican has cosponsored Conyers’s measure.

— Bob Cusack