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Obama Questions
Clinton's Trade Stance, Fights Back on Charges of
'Elitism'

Obama Questions
Clinton's Trade Stance, Fights Back on Charges of
'Elitism'

Barack Obama called into question Hillary Rodham Clinton's opposition to free trade agreements on Monday, intensifying his attacks on his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination as he sought to detract from his remarks that threatened to cost him crucial votes among working-class voters. The two presidential candidates continued to hammer each other Monday after a weekend of criticism stemming from Obama's comment that some small-town voters are bitter over their economic circumstances and ''cling to guns and religion'' as a result. Obama uttered the words at a private fundraiser in San Francisco last week and Clinton has seized on them in seeking the edge in Pennsylvania, which holds its primary April 22.

Barack Obama called into question Hillary Rodham Clinton's opposition to free trade agreements on Monday, intensifying his attacks on his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination as he sought to detract from his remarks that threatened to cost him crucial votes among working-class voters.

The two presidential candidates continued to hammer each other Monday after a weekend of criticism stemming from Obama's comment that some small-town voters are bitter over their economic circumstances and ''cling to guns and religion'' as a result.

Obama uttered the words at a private fundraiser in San Francisco last week and Clinton has seized on them in seeking the edge in Pennsylvania, which holds its primary April 22.

Sen. John McCain joined in the attack Monday in a speech at The Associated Press annual meeting in Washington.

''I would like to respond briefly to the comments one of my opponents made the other day about the psychology and political mind-set of Americans living in small towns and other areas that have experienced the loss of industrial jobs.''

The Arizona senator looked back to members of the Depression-era generation in the United States and said: ''Their (religious) faith had given generations of their families purpose and meaning, as it does today. And their appreciation of traditions like hunting was based in nothing other than their contribution to the enjoyment of life.''

With eight days remaining in the fierce battle for Democratic votes in Pennsylvania -- an economically hard-hit northeastern state that holds the biggest remaining primary -- Obama criticized the former first lady on the North American Free Trade Agreement and the pending Colombian trade deal. Opponents of the free-trade pacts claim they cost American jobs.

NAFTA went into force while Bill Clinton was president; the Colombia pact is backed by the former president and Clinton was forced to demote her chief strategist last week for working with the Colombian government to support the treaty's passage in Congress

''Around election time, the candidates can't do enough for you,'' Obama said. ''They'll promise you anything, give you a long list of proposals and even come around, with TV crews in tow, to throw back a shot and a beer.''

Clinton did that at a stop Saturday at Bronko's restaurant in Crown Point, Indiana, on Saturday.

Obama was speaking to the Alliance for American Manufacturing.

The two rivals had battled through the week with some of the toughest rhetoric of the presidential campaign.

Seeking to overcome Obama's advantage nationwide in delegates and popular vote, Clinton called the first-term Illinois senator an elitist after disclosure of remarks he made at a San Francisco fundraiser that suggested working-class people are bitter about their economic circumstances and ''cling to guns and religion'' as a result.

Obama, who would be the first African-American president, retorted that Clinton is insincere and that her stated concerns for working class voters in states like Pennsylvania are a sham. The state's April 22 primary is seen as a must-win for Clinton, a senator from New York.

On Sunday, Obama reiterated his regret for his choice of words at the fundraiser but suggested they had been twisted and mischaracterized by critics, including Clinton.

''She knows better. Shame on her. Shame on her,'' Obama told an audience at a union hall here Sunday.

Obama noted that Clinton seemed much more interested in guns since he made his comments than she had in the past.

''She is running around talking about how this is an insult to sportsmen, how she values the Second Amendment,'' Obama said, referring to the U.S. Constitution amendment that covers gun ownership rights.

''Hillary Clinton is out there like she's on the duck blind every Sunday. She's packing a six-shooter. Come on, she knows better. That's some politics being played by Hillary Clinton,'' he said.

Clinton has told campaign audiences that she supports the rights of hunters. Saturday, she reminisced about learning to shoot on family vacations in Scranton, where her father grew up. She's also said she once shot a duck in Arkansas, where she served as first lady.

Clinton, who is trailing Obama in the popular vote and pledged delegates, has pounded Obama since Friday, when audio from his San Francisco appearance was posted on The Huffington Post Web site.

At the San Francisco fundraiser, Obama tried to explain his troubles in winning over some working-class voters, saying they have become frustrated with economic conditions: ''It's not surprising, then, 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.''

Campaigning in Scranton on Sunday, Clinton denounced those remarks yet again as ''elitist and divisive'' and suggested they would alienate voters in Pennsylvania and other states holding primaries in the coming weeks.

''Senator Obama has not owned up to what he said and taken accountability for it,'' she told reporters during an informal news conference outside a home.

According to the latest AP tally, Obama leads Clinton in the convention delegate count 1,639-1,503, including superdelegates -- party elders and elected officials who can vote for whichever candidate they chose, regardless of the popular vote in state primaries and caucuses.

Neither candidate will be able to clinch the 2,025 delegates needed to win the nomination without the approval of superdelegates.

Obama planned to further address the question of which candidate was most in touch with middle-class voters when he speaks at the afternoon session of the AP annual meeting. (Steven Hurst, AP)

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