In a bid to restore her front-runner status ahead of the key contests of Ohio and Texas, United States Democratic Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton stepped up attacks against party rival Barack Obama, accusing him of distorting her positions on health care and trade issues.
"Shame on You, Barack Obama," Clinton, the New York Senator, said during a rally in Ohio. The Democratic nomination contest will be held on March 4 here along with the southern state of Texas. She charged the Obama campaign with producing misleading leaflets on her health care and free trade positions.
One of the Obama campaign mailings says that Clinton's health care plan would force Americans to buy coverage even if they could not afford it. The other says that Clinton "was not with Ohio when our jobs were on the line," describing her as a champion of the North American Free Trade Agreement approved by her husband, former president Bill Clinton.
The former first lady suffered 11 straight losses to Obama since the Super Tuesday showdown of February 5, when two dozen contests took place, and is looking ahead to the strong showing in Ohio and Texas, the delegate-rich states that could determine the fate of her White House bid.
At the Ohio campaign rally on Saturday, Clinton, aiming to script history by becoming first woman President, accused Obama, the Illinois Senator, of undermining core Democratic values. She also alleged that he spent millions of dollars to perpetuate falsehoods.
Responding to allegations, Obama, who is also bidding to become the first black President of the US, told reporters that he stood by the leaflets and was puzzled by the change in Clinton's tone.
"In terms of the two mailers that she specifically referred to here, these are mailers that by the way went out several days ago, if not weeks ago, so I'm puzzled by the sudden change in tone, unless these were just brought to her attention," he said.
"It makes me think that there's something tactical about her getting so exercised this morning," Obama said, describing the mailers completely accurate.
He said: "We have been subject to constant attack from the Clinton campaign except when we were down by 20 points," adding "I think they need to take a look at what they've been doing."
Obama said the health care mailer simply makes the same point that Clinton herself does -- that the main difference between the two candidates' health care plans is that the New York Senator requires people to buy insurance, while his does not.
Intensifying her offensive against Obama, Clinton said at a press conference: "Enough with the speeches and the big rallies, and then using tactics right out of Karl Rove's playbook," a reference to President George W Bush's former chief political advisor.
"This is wrong, and every Democrat should be outraged," she said, waving the Obama mailings.
"That is not the new politics that the speeches are about," said Clinton, who attempted to define Obama as a talented speaker with a thin resume. "It is not hopeful. It is destructive, particularly for a Democrat."
Clinton said Obama's health care mailing echoed talking points of the health care industry and its Republican allies. "Just because Senator Obama chose not to present a universal health care plan does not give him the right to attack me because I did," she said.
Obama's attack, she said, would give aid and comfort to health care companies and the Republican Party.
"So shame on you, Barack Obama," she said. "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."
Clinton and Obama are scheduled to debate on Tuesday night in Cleveland. On NAFTA, she said she had criticised the pact for years and had a four-point plan to fix it. "That is no way to run a campaign here in Ohio about the importance of the election."
Clinton's campaign also dismissed as nonsense a Washington Post report that quoted an unnamed campaign aide as saying that she saw Obama's win in Wisconsin's state primary earlier this week as a 'decisive blow.'
Clinton has so far won 1,275 delegates, compared to 1,374 for Obama; a total of 2,025 are needed to secure the party's nod.
Later at the annual 'State of the Black Union' conference on Saturday night, Clinton acknowledged her husband may have offended some African-Americans with his comments last month about Obama's candidature, but said many of the 5000 people present at the meet "know him personally and know his heart".
"If anyone was offended by anything that was said, whether it was meant or not, whether it was misinterpreted or not, then obviously I regret that," Clinton said. "My husband apologised for slavery. My husband mended, so as to avoid ending, affirmative action. My husband had in his White House, his Cabinet, his administration, many of you who I see here in either full-time or advisory positions."
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