NEW YORK, MAY 8: At least one political party is acting like it knows who the Democratic nominee will be: the Republicans, who have greatly stepped up their criticisms of Senator Barack Obama in recent weeks while practically ignoring Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

For weeks, Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, has directed his most pointed barbs at Obama. The Republican National Committee prominently features an anti-Obama advertisement on its Web site’s home page, which has no mention of Clinton.

And at least one independent group that had prepared advertisements attacking Clinton is compiling material to produce new ones attacking Obama. Officials in the McCain campaign and at the Republican National Committee say that they have not counted Clinton out, but some Republicans say that the outcome is clear. “Right now Hillary Clinton may not be able to do the math, but Republicans have been for the last couple of weeks,” said Kevin Madden, a Republican consultant.

Some of the issues that Republicans are beginning to raise paint a picture of what the fall election strategy against Obama might look like. Some are traditional, using Obama’s support for withdrawing the troops from Iraq to portray him as weak on national security.

A rotating banner at the top of the Republican Party home page asks, “Why does Barack Obama want to increase taxes again and drive up the cost of gasoline on Americans?” It also ties him to the liberal group MoveOn.org, and features an advertisement called “Barack Obama’s Gas Tax Hypocrisy,” noting that while he now opposes suspending the gas tax, he once supported a similar measure when he was an Illinois lawmaker.

Charlie Black, a senior adviser to the McCain campaign, said that the campaign was prepared to face either Democrat and did not have a preference. “I guess if you were trying to quantify it, you would certainly say Senator Obama’s odds have gone up some,” Black said.

Clinton aide appeals to Indian-Americans

•WASHINGTON: Indian-Americans should back Hillary Clinton’s bid for the Democratic Party presidential nomination as she would forge “strongest” ties with New Delhi, Terry McAuliffe, chairman of her campaign has said in an interview to India Abroad, a day after the former first lady suffered a body blow in Tuesday’s crucial primaries. He said: “She’s worked on economic issues to strengthen ties . . . she was in favour of the US-India civilian nuclear agreement.”