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Clinton, Obama Ratchet Up Attacks

Posted on: Saturday, 16 February 2008, 03:00 CST

Wisconsin has turned into not just a battleground in the Democratic race for president.

It has turned into a grudge match.

In an interview with the Journal Sentinel on Friday, Hillary Rodham Clinton accused Barack Obama of ripping off her economic ideas, giving up on universal health care, dodging questions about his record and acting under the influence of major corporations.

"I think his words don't match his actions," she said.

In a news conference in Milwaukee on Friday, Obama ridiculed Clinton for claiming to be in the "solutions business," saying she was in the "business-as-usual business." And he accused her of launching attacks on him "periodically when she feels down . . . as a way of trying to boost her appeal."

For two candidates who are viewed as having minor policy differences, they are feuding on myriad fronts this week: trade, health care, energy, Social Security, bankruptcy law.

After almost nary a negative TV ad in the first 30 states to vote, the Democratic air wars have erupted amid the proverbial civility of the upper Midwest.

Attacking Obama for the first time on TV, Clinton aired an ad Wednesday over Obama's refusal to debate her in Wisconsin. Obama fired back Thursday, accusing Clinton of the "same old politics of phony charges and false attacks."

Then Clinton upped the ante Friday, charging Obama with "hiding behind false attack ads" and -- mining a theme that Democrats usually save for Republicans -- suggesting Obama "might raise the retirement age and cut benefits."

The Clinton campaign said this was based on Obama's saying on ABC last year that "everything should be on the table" when it comes to Social Security reform.

"Obama has said repeatedly he does not want to cut benefits or raise the retirement age," the Obama campaign said.

Fresh polls

With Obama spending his third day in the state Friday and Clinton making her first visit today, two new polls gave Obama a narrow lead, suggesting a very competitive race, despite Obama's momentum and head start here.

The Wisconsin primary is Tuesday.

While Clinton initiated the ad exchange, Obama has been heavily outspending her in the state, according to Evan Tracey of the ad-tracking firm TNS Media Intelligence-CMAG.

Obama went on TV a week earlier and continued to advertise at a much higher volume than Clinton through midweek. Wednesday, for example, Obama spent an estimated $133,000 in the state's five media markets, while Clinton spent just under $40,000. Tracey said that by contrast, Clinton was spending about the same as Obama in the two big March 4 battlegrounds so vital to reviving Clinton's prospects, Ohio and Texas

But after campaigning since Tuesday in those two states, Clinton has announced stops over the next three days in Kenosha, Milwaukee, De Pere, Wausau, Madison, Eau Claire and Oshkosh.

By Sunday, Obama will have campaigned in Madison, Janesville, Waukesha, Racine, Milwaukee, Oshkosh, Green Bay, Wausau, Eau Claire and Kaukauna.

Senate Democrat Russ Feingold, who hasn't endorsed either candidate, said the outcome here could have a major impact on both.

"If Obama is able to win by double digits, a significant win, it could be a very serious blow to her chances in other states," Feingold said in an interview. "If she keeps it close or by some chance wins, it could be a platform for another revival and be a real boost."

Money issues

In a campaign that has veered from mannerly to the brink of incendiary and back again, the two candidates are once again taking each other on over policy, credibility and personal attributes.

In an interview by telephone from Ohio on Friday, Clinton took direct aim at one of the basic claims of Obama's candidacy -- that he's kept monied interests at greater distance than other candidates -- by saying that in many cases, "it's clear his actions were influenced by major corporations."

She derided the credit he takes for rejecting contributions from lobbyists, saying he takes contributions from "people who employ lobbyists," and that's "an artificial distinction that doesn't stand up to any scrutiny whatsoever."

Clinton suggested, as she has in the past, that Obama has skated through the process without having to account for his record, in keeping with suggestions she has made that he would wilt under GOP attacks in a general election.

"There are so many instances where he has questions that should be answered which you know are never answered. I think that's a disservice to voters. . . . (If we debated) maybe we could finally get some answers instead of this constant diversion and deflection," she said, referring to an invitation to debate on TV in Milwaukee that Obama rejected.

Gov. Jim Doyle fired back later Friday, telling reporters, "The only campaign she has going on in Wisconsin is negative TV ads."

Obama held a news conference and rally in Milwaukee, and rallies in Oshkosh and Green Bay on Friday. He drew 6,000 people at the Midwest Airlines Center in Milwaukee, the campaign said, and about 4,000 at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

At the Milwaukee rally, Obama portrayed Clinton as both a partisan and an establishment figure.

"Her supporting NAFTA didn't give jobs to the American people," he said. "Her supporting a bankruptcy bill that made it harder for people to get out of debt -- that didn't help them with the bills that were stacking up on their desk. Hollering at Republicans and engaging in petty partisan politics didn't help health care get done."

The trade issue has drawn attention from both candidates in the struggling manufacturing centers of Wisconsin and Ohio.

Clinton says Obama is distorting her record on NAFTA, which was backed by her husband when he was president.

"I was not in the Senate at the time. I did not have a vote. I find his argument to be quite tortured. I have been a vocal critic of NAFTA starting in my campaign for the Senate in 1999," Clinton said in the interview Friday.

But asked twice what her position was on NAFTA at the time it was passed -- when she was first lady -- she did not answer directly and turned the question around to Obama.

"That's was not something I was focused on at the time. I was focused on health care at the time, as you remember," she said laughing, alluding to her well-publicized failure to overhaul the system. "I was working 24-7 to try to achieve universal health care, which I am very committed to doing as president, which is something Senator Obama has given up on because his plan does not cover everyone."

Obama picked up the support of a major national labor organization Friday, the Service Employees International Union.

The SEIU is politically active in Wisconsin, but Clinton appears to have an edge in organized labor support here, including AFSCME, the public employees union that is a force in Democratic politics.

Feingold said it's clear that both candidates are competing to appeal to voters in economic straits and are focused here and Ohio on the "working towns in the state, the places that have larger manufacturing traditions."

Long a critic of U.S. trade policy, Feingold said neither Clinton nor Obama has been a leader in that cause -- Clinton because she has backed some trade bills and Obama because he doesn't have much of a voting record on the issue.

"They both need to turn this up," he said, saying the fact that they're "focusing on working areas is a sign they get that."

Ellen Gabler and Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

Source: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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