On The HUSTINGS

ENDORSEMENT WATCH

Senator Obama scored four more superdelegate endorsements yesterday, including two powerful committee chairmen in the House of Representatives. The head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Henry Waxman, and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Howard Berman, both of California, jointly backed Mr. Obama yesterday, sending another signal that Democratic Party leaders were rallying around their likely nominee. The Obama campaign also noted that both chairmen were leaders in the American Jewish community, a constituency that Mr. Obama has aggressively courted with mixed success. Other superdelegates endorsing Mr. Obama yesterday were Rep. James McDermott of Washington state and the president of the Communication Workers of America, Larry Cohen, a Democratic National Committee member from Washington, D.C.

Following the lead of John Edwards, the United Steelworkers of America endorsed Mr. Obama yesterday, adding another key labor union to his roster of supporters. The steelworkers had backed Mr. Edwards, a former North Carolina senator who dropped his bid earlier this year. "Senator Obama's call for a significant change of direction amounts to far more than a compelling rallying cry. It is buttressed by his record of consistent support for workers," the union said in a statement.

GORE WATCH

After John Edwards's endorsement of Senator Obama on Wednesday, all eyes are on Vice President Gore, who has not indicated who he is supporting. "The Al Gore watch starts now," a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Ken Goldstein, told Bloomberg News.

Mr. Gore, who has focused on climate issues and won the Nobel Prize since leaving office, has said he will not endorse until after the nominee is decided. A spokeswoman told Bloomberg that he had no further comment.

On his campaign plane Wednesday night, Mr. Obama said he has spoken to Mr. Gore periodically over the past several months about policies and ideas.

"I'm not really pushing for an endorsement," Mr. Obama told reporters, Bloomberg reported. "I'd love to have it, but when you've won the Nobel Peace Prize, making an endorsement politically is maybe a step down."

OBAMA CAMPAIGN DENOUNCES VIDEO USING CANDIDATE'S WIFE

The Obama campaign is attacking as "shameful" a four-minute video by the Tennessee Republican Party that uses clips of Michelle Obama saying, "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am proud of my country." The video repeats the clip, interspersing testimonials from residents who describe their pride in America. Critics have used Mrs. Obama's statement at a campaign rally earlier this year to question her patriotism. "This is a shameful attempt to attack a woman who has repeatedly said she wouldn't be here without the opportunities and blessings of this nation," a spokesman for Senator Obama, Hari Sevugan, said in response, Politico reported. He added: "And if the Tennessee Republican Party has a problem with Senator Obama, maybe next time they'll have the courage to address him directly instead of attacking his family."

MCCAIN'S PLANS WOULD ADD TO DEFICIT, DEBT, REPORT FINDS

Senator McCain's current fiscal proposals would increase the federal deficit to its highest level in 25 years and raise the national debt to heights not seen since World War II, a new study from the left-leaning Center for American Progress found. Mr. McCain is proposing to cut corporate tax rates, repeal the alternative minimum tax, and extend President Bush's tax cuts. The report said that those and other plans would leave America with a national debt of $12.7 trillion by the end of a two-term presidency. The Arizona senator has backed off a pledge to balance the budget by the end of his first term, but his campaign has disputed projections by Democrats that the deficit and debt would balloon under his watch. He has pledged to cut government spending significantly, but because he has not laid out specific programs to cut, those projections are not included in the analysis beyond $33 billion in earmark and "wasteful spending" reforms.