The US presidential race turned more aggressive yesterday after Senator Hillary Clinton launched a scathing attack on Democratic rival Senator Barack Obama in a bid to restore her front-runner status.
After a day of denying that a series of 11 straight losses to Obama left her campaign teetering on the edge of defeat, Clinton changed to a sharper tone and went on the offensive, accusing him of borrowing Republican tactics to criticize her health care and trade positions.
"Shame on you, Barack Obama," Clinton said on Saturday during a campaign rally in Ohio, which along with Texas holds key Democratic nominating contests on March 4.
PHOTO: AP
"It is time you ran a campaign consistent with your messages in public. That's what I expect from you. Meet me in Ohio. Let's have a debate about your tactics and your behavior in this campaign," she said.
The 60-year-old New York senator -- who accused the Obama campaign of sending out misleading policy mailings about health care and free trade -- and the 46-year-old Illinois senator are to meet for a final televised debate on Tuesday in Cleveland, Ohio.
Obama stood by the statements in his campaign flyers and questioned the timing of Clinton's attack, noting that the tracts were not new.
"I'm puzzled by the sudden change in tone, unless these were just brought to her attention," he told reporters in Columbus, Ohio. "The notion that somehow we're engaging in nefarious tactics, I think, is pretty hard to swallow."
Obama countered that he has been the target of negative attacks from the Clinton campaign for months.
"We have been subject to constant attack from the Clinton campaign except when we were down by 20 points," he said.
Clinton's campaign also dismissed as "nonsense" a Washington Post report that quoted an unnamed campaign aide as saying Clinton saw Obama's win in Wisconsin's state primary earlier this week as a "decisive blow."
"She knows where things are going. It's pretty clear she has a big decision. But it's daunting. It's still hard to accept," the adviser said.
"The mathematical reality at that point became impossible to ignore," the adviser said. "There's not a lot of denial left at this point."
Clinton has so far won 1,275 delegates, compared to 1,374 for Obama according to RealClearPolitics.com. A total of 2,025 are needed to secure the party's nod.
"This story line is nonsense," Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said. "The mood is upbeat. Senator Clinton is working hard every day to do well in Texas and Ohio and secure this nomination."
Her campaign also sought to put a positive spin on her melancholy debate closer on Thursday, when she reached out to shake Obama's hand, saying: "You know, no matter what happens in this contest -- and I am honored, I am honored to be here with Barack Obama. I am absolutely honored. ... We're going to be fine."
Wolfson explained that the exchange showed "why Hillary Clinton is the next president of the United States ... Her strength, her life experience, her compassion. She's tested and ready."
The next crucial nominating contests are in Ohio (141 delegates) and Texas (193 delegates) -- states that even her husband, former president Bill Clinton, had admitted are key to her campaign's survival.
Polls released this week have suggested Obama and Clinton are in a dead-heat in Texas. RealClearPolitics' average of Ohio polls, however, has Clinton at 50 percent and Obama at 42 percent there.
On the Republican side, Senator John McCain attempted to distance himself from a New York Times report that alleged some of his aides suspected improper conduct between him and a younger female lobbyist.
McCain, who with 976 delegates compared to nearest rival Mike Huckabee's 245 looks set to capture his party's nomination, refused to answer any more questions on the topic on Friday, after denying any untoward relationship with the woman.
The lobbyist's firm also rejected the allegations.
But the controversy stirred anew on Saturday, as Newsweek, the Washington Post and the New York Times reported on contradictions in McCain's statements about his contacts with firms associated with the lobbyist.
DEBT BREAK: Friedrich Merz has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to free up more money for defense and infrastructure at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz was set yesterday to defend his unprecedented plans to massively ramp up defense and infrastructure spending in the Bundestag as lawmakers begin debating the proposals. Merz unveiled the plans last week, vowing his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — in talks to form a coalition after last month’s elections — would quickly push them through before the end of the current legislature. Fraying Europe-US ties under US President Donald Trump have fueled calls for Germany, long dependent on the US security umbrella, to quickly
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
RSS