'The Boss' would hire Obama for the top job

Clinton also picked up the endorsement of a celebrated musician, salsa star Willie Colon. "Hillary has been on the side of our families for over 35 years -- she has been with us from the very beginning," the bandleader and trombonist said in a prepared statement. "I want a president who I can count on, someone who in tough times will be there for me."

The New York senator also received the backing of the Operative Plasterers' and Cement Masons' International Assn., representing about 45,000 plasterers and cement masons in the construction industry.

"We need a leader with Hillary Clinton's ability to turn around the economy and rebuild the middle class," said Patrick D. Finley, the union's president. "She has a clear record fighting for working families, and is the strongest candidate to go toe-to-toe with John McCain in November."

While Obama and Clinton collected endorsements, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, John McCain, was the target of Democratic attacks.

Clinton criticized McCain -- one day after the Arizona senator outlined an economic agenda calling for tax cuts and spending curbs -- for what she characterized as a plan to continue Bush administration economic policies.

In a speech to union members gathered in Washington for the Building and Construction Trades Department union's annual legislative conference, Clinton scored McCain for seeking "more tax cuts for corporations."

Separately, while stumping for Clinton in Pennsylvania, Democratic Rep. John P. Murtha, who is 75, called McCain, 71, too old to be president. Noting that McCain "is about as old as me," Murtha drew laughter and applause when he said, "Let me tell you something: It's no old man's job."

McCain, asked the age question earlier this week, told editors at the Associated Press annual meeting, "Watch me campaign. We keep a heavier schedule. We campaign harder." He urged voters to judge him by his performance, and predicted: "My energy, my intellect, my experience and my judgment is what American people will -- hopefully that they will view me as qualified to be president of the United States."

--

johanna.neuman@latimes.com

noam.levey@latimes.com