Hillary goes on the attack

With ten days to go before the crucial Ohio and Texas primaries, which Hillary Clinton must win if she is to halt the momentum building behind Barack Obama, the New York senator closed a rally in Cincinnati, Ohio on Saturday with a blistering attack on her rival.

"Shame on you, Barack Obama!" she said, accusing Obama of distorting her position on health care and Nafta in two election leaflets. "Enough with the speeches and the big rallies and then using tactics that are right out of Karl Rove's playbook," said Clinton, referring to President Bush's former advisor. "This is wrong, and every Democrat should be outraged."

It was Clinton's most belicose attack yet on Obama; some observers used the word 'hysterical' to describe the tone and content of her address.

Obama, at a hastily arranged press conference in Columbus, Ohio, responded to the outburst by saying he was puzzled by the timing of her attack and by what he called his rival's "change in tone". He said he stood by what was printed in the leaflets.

One of the Obama mailings claims that Clinton's healthcare plan would force Americans to buy coverage even if they could not afford it. The other claims that Clinton "was not with Ohio when our jobs were on the line," describing her as a champion of Nafta (the North American Free Trade Agreement) approved by her husband, former President Clinton.

Obama said the leaflets had been shipped to voters in Ohio "several days ago if not weeks ago." He went on: "Unless these were just brought to her attention, it makes me think that there's something tactical about her getting so exercised this morning."

He said the healthcare leaflet made the same point that Clinton herself does - that the main difference between the two candidates' healthcare plans is that the New York senator requires people to buy insurance, while his does not. The next televised debate between Clinton and Obama is scheduled for February 26, a week ahead of the March 4 primaries.

Obama, who has won 11 consecutive primaries and caucuses in recent weeks, now has at least 1,353 of the 2,025 delegates he needs to secure the Democratic nomination at the party convention, according to Associated Press figures. Mrs Clinton has 1,264 delegates. Texas and Ohio have a combined total of 334 delegates up for grabs.

FIRST POSTED FEBRUARY 24, 2008