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ByKenThomasand Thomas Beaumont TheAssociatedPress DES MOINES, IOWA Hillary Clinton is expected to run a primary campaign for the Democratic presiden- tial nomination focused on the four traditional early- to-vote states, forgoing the chance to parlay her domi- nant position into an early start in the swing states key to the general election. Data-driven grassroots organizing in states such as Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Ne- vada, along with fundrais- ing, will be the focus when Clinton launches her pres- idential campaign, proba- bly in early April, accord- ing to people familiar with the strategy. They spoke on condition of anonymity be- cause they were not autho- rized to discuss internal planning on the record. The approach aims to take little for granted while capitalizing on the fact that three of the states — all but South Carolina — are also campaign battlegrounds. "I have no doubt that she will run hard in Iowa, whether or not she has competition in the cau- cuses," said Bonnie Camp- bell, a former state attor- ney general and Clinton supporter. "Iowa is a com- petitive state in the general election, so time spent here is time well-spent." Democrats say the for- mer secretary of state has yet to begin building state organizations in fall cam- paign battlegrounds such as Florida, Ohio, Virginia and Colorado, but the na- tional focus is on raising money. The campaign is beginning to assemble a stable of fundraisers for a race likely to exceed the more than $1 billion Presi- dent Barack Obama raised for his 2012 re-election. If Clinton announces in April, her campaign would be required to release its first fundraising report in July. "I'm sure there will be a line to host her when she says it's time," said John Morgan, a Florida Demo- cratic fundraiser. "Money will not be a problem." Instead of waging a gen- eral election strategy from the start, Clinton's team will emulate many of the tactics that propelled Obama: rely- ing heavily on data, empow- ering neighborhood volun- teer teams to organize com- munities and holding events that allow for more personal connections. Clinton's 2008 campaign suffered from a sense of in- evitability about her can- didacy and fell victim to Obama's ground game in Iowa, where the future pres- ident scored a decisive vic- tory in the caucuses. While she made two visits to Iowa on behalf of state Demo- crats last year, party activ- ists are looking for signs she will compete vigorously de- spite a lack of competition right now. "There is a perceived Iowa problem," said Norm Sterzenbach, a former ex- ecutive director of the state Democratic party. "The best way to fix that is to be here and do well," he said. "And it's an investment that would pay off in the general election." A strategy focused on the early voting states could help her in this respect: Re- publican presidential hope- fuls are already campaign- ing in them, and trying to tarnish Clinton's name on a daily basis. Her presence in those states would give her a direct chance to respond. Taken in full, the four states also give any presi- dential contender a chance to connect with important segments of the electorate. Iowa and New Hampshire have many white, rural vot- ers who have eluded Dem- ocrats in recent elections, while Nevada is rich with up-for-grabs Latino voters and South Carolina has a large segment of black vot- ers, who have been loyal to Obama. POLITICS InearlyprimarystateslikeIowa, Hillary Clinton plans to run hard RICHARDDREW—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Hillary Clinton answers questions at a news conference at the United Nations. By Cain Burdeau The Associated Press NEW ORLEANS Members of a seasoned, Louisiana- based National Guard crew who died last week in a he- licopter crash off the Florida coast had done tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and participated in human- itarian missions after Gulf Coast hurricanes and in the response to the catastrophic 2010 BP oil spill, military of- ficials said Monday. The Louisiana National Guard identified the pilots and crew of a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed March 10 in the Santa Rosa Sound along Florida's Pan- handle in a nighttime train- ing exercise in dense fog with seven elite Marines aboard. All 11 in the Black Hawk died. "I couldn't have put up a finer crew," said Col. Patrick Bossetta, a commander over aviation units for the Louisi- ana National Guard. "Let me put it this way: I would have put my son up with them." Maj. Gen. Glenn H. Curtis, the National Guard's adju- tant general, announced the soldiers' identities during a news conference at Jackson Barracks in New Orleans. The soldiers' remains are being transported to Do- ver Air Force Base in Dela- ware. Burials have not yet been arranged. The names of the Marines killed in the crash were released Friday. The Marines were stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Car- olina. Three members of the flight crew were from Loui- siana and one was from Vir- ginia. They were described as among the military's most seasoned helicopter pilots and crew. Piloting the helicopter were Chief Warrant Officer George Wayne Griffin Jr. of Delhi, 37, and Chief War- rant Officer George David Strother of Alexandria, 44. Both were decorated veteran pilots. All four of the crew were full-time personnel. Curtis said it was un- known which pilot was in charge at the time of the accident. "I don't know that we'll ever know that. And I don't even know if that's really important. The accident happened; it is what it is," Curtis said. The crash is being inves- tigated by the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center, based in Fort Rucker, Ala- bama. That investigation will "try to pinpoint exactly what happened, if it was a mechanical failure, or what- ever it was," Curtis said. Bossetta said the foggy nighttime conditions should not have been a major factor. "What they were doing out there wasn't super complex." Maj. Gen. Joseph L. Os- terman, commander of Ma- rine Corps special opera- tions forces, has said they were practicing rappelling down ropes into the water and heading for land, but had decided to abort the mission as too risky. Also killed on the crew were Staff Sgt. Lance Bergeron, 40, of Thibodaux and Staff Sgt. Thomas Flo- rich, Fairfax, Virginia. Military burials with full honors were being planned for the dead. "Now we can start bring- ing them back," Curtis said. He said the delay in re- leasing the names was due to bad weather including dense fog that's hampered recovery efforts and the na- ture of the crash. Across Louisiana flags are flying at half-staff until sunset March 20 to honor the dead. Officials earlier identi- fied the Marines as: Capt. Stanford Henry Shaw III of Basking Ridge, New Jersey; Master Sgt. Thomas Saun- ders of Williamsburg, Vir- ginia; Staff Sgt. Liam Flynn of Queens, New York; Staff Sgt. Trevor P. Blaylock of Lake Orion, Michigan; Staff Sgt. Kerry Michael Kemp of Port Washington, Wis- consin; Staff Sgt. Andrew Seif of Holland, Michigan; and Staff Sgt. Marcus Ba- wol from Warren, Michigan. All were from the 2nd Special Operations Battal- ion of the Marine Corps Special Operations Com- mand. FLORIDA COAST Flight crew killed in Black Hawk crash identified JACQUELYN MARTIN — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., , flanked by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., le , and and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill. By Andrew Taylor The Associated Press WASHINGTON GOP de- fense hawks are pressing to find ways to boost the Pentagon's bottom line as the annual budget de- bate cranks up on Capitol Hill, as tension between defense hawks and bud- get hard-liners is already making it difficult for Re- publican leaders to assem- ble a majority behind their soon-to-be-revealed bud- get blueprints. Even before top Repub- licans unveil budget plans with promises to balance the nation's budget within a decade and rein in ma- jor programs such as food stamps and Medicare, ef- forts were underway to ease automatic budget cuts set to slam the mil- itary. Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., said Monday he'd like to swap a 10-year deficit-cutting plan to reverse two years' worth of Pentagon cuts, which to- tal more than $100 billion over 2016-2017. The chairmen of the House and Senate Budget panels plan to release their budget plans this week — the House on Tuesday and the Senate on Wednesday. The nonbinding measure called a budget resolution sets broad parameters on taxes and spending; it re- quires follow-up legisla- tion later this year to im- plement its balanced-bud- get goals, and Republicans are unlikely to take on that task as long as President Barack Obama occupies the Oval Office. House Budget Commit- tee Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga., and Senate Bud- get Committee Chairman Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., plan to produce blueprints that would balance the budget within 10 years — without raising taxes. Instead, they will pro- pose major spending cuts to programs such as Medi- care, health care subsidies, food stamps and the Med- icaid program for the poor and elderly to produce a budget that's balanced. Such cuts, if actually im- plemented later, would likely slash spending by $5 trillion or so over the com- ing decade from budgets that are presently on track to spend almost $50 tril- lion over that time frame. To the dismay of defense hawks, however, they can't really use Congress' arcane budget process to repeal automatic Pentagon cuts that will strip $54 billion from core Pentagon pro- grams based on limits set under a hard-fought 2011 budget deal. Nor can they match Obama's proposal to add $38 billion to the Pentagon's budget next year without exposing the entire budget to a par- liamentary challenge by Democrats. That has deficit and de- fense hawks like McCain fuming. "If we're going to have a lower (defense) number than the president of the United States is propos- ing, we have no credibil- ity on saying that we are committed to defending this nation — not when every service chief, every witness before our com- mittee says it will devas- tate ... our ability to defend the nation," McCain said. "You can't do that and claim that you care about national defense." 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