HILLARY Clinton's Democratic presidential campaign has been given new life in Pennsylvania and beyond after Barack Obama was forced into a second day of damage control for calling small-town Americans "bitter".
Senator Clinton blasted her rival as "elitist" and "out of touch". At first, Senator Obama acknowledged only that he had chosen his words poorly. But by his fourth clarification he had moved closer to contrition.
"If I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that," Senator Obama told the Winston-Salem Journal. "The underlying truth of what I said remains."
Senators Clinton and Obama will clash in a face-to-face debate in Philadelphia on Wednesday.
Senator Clinton, 60, trails Senator Obama, 46, in total nominating victories, the popular vote and elected delegates going into the Pennsylvania contest and needs a strong win.
Senator Obama's remarks came at an April 6 fund-raiser in San Francisco, when he spoke of workers in Pennsylvania and elsewhere who have seen factories shut down. "So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns, or religion, or antipathy, to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations," he said.
The blue-collar, economically stressed voters Senator Obama was talking about are a key voting bloc in Pennsylvania on April 22 and in coming primaries in North Carolina, Indiana and West Virginia.
Senator Clinton launched the first volley in what might become a high-stakes game of working-class one-upmanship. "The people of faith I know don't 'cling to' religion because they're bitter. People embrace faith not because they are materially poor but because they are spiritually rich," she said.
Some analysts say the comments raise larger questions about Senator Obama's candidacy. "This is serious … potentially devastating," said Terry Madonna, an independent pollster in Pennsylvania.
Many Democrats have said Senator Clinton's last hope is for a major event or gaffe to derail Senator Obama's march to the nomination. Some were wondering if they had just seen it.
"Mistakes like this make superdelegates nervous," said one Democratic strategist in Washington. "You cannot be elected president of the United States if you think you're smarter than everyone. People pick up on that."
NEWSDAY, AFP
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