Clinton and Obama continue attacks 21/04/2008 - 17:05:43
Presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama today continued their onslaught on each other on the eve of the crucial Pennsylvania primary.
Both Mrs Clinton, who needs a big win to keep her candidacy afloat, and Mr Obama, who has closed in to within single digits of her in the latest polls, were accusing the other of ties to special interests they each claim to reject.
Campaign fundraising figures released yesterday showed Mr Obama holding on to his massive advantage.
Regardless of the condition of their campaign finances, the Democratic rivals were spending a lot on television advertising in Pennsylvania.
"In the last 10 years Barack Obama has taken almost $2m (€1.25m) from lobbyists, corporations and PACs. The head of his New Hampshire campaign is a drug company lobbyist, in Indiana an energy lobbyist, a casino lobbyist in Nevada," said a new Clinton commercial.
Mr Obama responded with his own tough message, an ad saying he "doesn't take money from special interest PACs or Washington lobbyists - not one dime".
Mrs Clinton does, it added, and accused her of "11th-hour smears paid for by lobbyist money...".
Aides in both campaigns said Mr Obama was outspending his rival by at least 2-1 on television ads in the state.
With just nine pre-convention contests remaining after Pennsylvania, it appeared mathematically impossible for either candidate to gather the 2,025 elected delegates needed for nomination going into the party convention in August.
That leaves the nomination in the hands of so-called superdelegates, the nearly 800 party officials who can vote for either candidate regardless of state primary or caucus results.
The Pennsylvania vote will apportion 158 delegates to the August Democratic national convention, but the party's rules for apportioning those delegates mean that even a big victory will likely do little to close Mr Obama's overall lead.
The battle for Pennsylvania turned particularly nasty as Mrs Clinton, who initially was expected to win easily and by a large margin, has seen her lead shrink in state polls.
Mr Obama - who is the clear front-runner for the nomination - is fighting equally hard to keep his expected loss as narrow as possible, hoping to diminish Mrs Clinton's argument to the superdelegates that she has unstoppable momentum.
She goes into the Pennsylvania primary having most recently won the popular vote in the delegate-heavy states of Texas and Ohio, but Mr Obama leads nationwide in delegates selected in primary elections and state caucuses, in the popular vote and the number of pre-convention state contests won.
Overall, including the nearly 500 superdelegates who have committed to one of the Democrats, Obama leads 1,646 to 1,508.
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Presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama today continued their onslaught on each other on the eve of the crucial Pennsylvania primary.
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