Published: April 28, 2008 08:11 pm      

Byrd wants Clinton, Obama to stick to issues in campaign

Sen. Robert C. Byrd had some advice Monday for Democratic presidential combatants Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton — stop the negative bickering and stick to the real issues.

Byrd certainly knows his way around the political arena.

It was back in 1946 that he won his first political post — a seat in the West Virginia House of Delegates — one year before Clinton was born and fully 15 years in advance of Obama’s birth.

A super delegate to the Democratic National Convention, the senator hasn’t endorsed either hopeful but advised both to tone down the personal rhetoric and start discussing issues that impact the daily lives of West Virginians before the May 13 primary.

“This has been a tough, competitive campaign,” Byrd said in a statement from his Capitol office.

“It is now time to show the people of West Virginia where the candidates stand on the issues. We don’t want negative campaigning or mudslinging to dominate the debate here in West Virginia. We want the candidates to stand up and talk about how they are going to improve the lives of West Virginians and end the war in Iraq. The people of West Virginia deserve no less.”