WASHINGTON —

Democratic White House hopeful Hillary Clinton on Sunday portrayed rival Barack Obama as “elitist and divisive” as she scrambled for votes in the crucial, largely blue-collar northeastern state of Pennsylvania.

The former first lady seized on comments by Obama last week in which he labeled working class voters as “bitter,” describing his words as condescending toward a large segment of voters and accusing him of not owning up to them.

Clinton is lobbying furiously for votes in upcoming April 22 primary in the northeastern state of Pennsylvania, where she needs a big turnout by blue-collar voters to keep alive her bid to secure the Democratic nomination.

Anything less than a big win there would severely dampen her hopes of taking the race to the end of the nominating calendar in June, in her long-odds bid to outdo Obama.

Asked at a news conference on the campaign trail in Scranton, Pennsylvania, whether she was manipulating the Illinois senator’s words for political advantage, Clinton responded: “I want to focus on what Senator Obama said.

“He is a good man and a very talented and gifted man but I think his comments were elitist and divisive and the Democratic party has been unfortunately viewed by many people over the last decade as being elitist and out of touch,” she said.

“I think what is important about this is that Senator Obama has not owned up to what he said and taken accountability for it,” she said, adding Obama had “attacked me for raising his remarks and referencing them.”

Clinton has led in Pennsylvania for months, but a Quinnipiac University poll last week had Obama surging to within six percentage points.

The pressure has made Clinton’s ability to score on Obama’s remarks on white, working class voters at a fund-raiser in California last week crucial.

“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,” Obama said.

The Illinois senator quickly expressed regret, telling The Winston-Salem Journal: “Obviously, if I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that. But the underlying truth of what I said remains, which is simply that people who have seen their way of life upended because of economic distress are frustrated and rightfully so.”

Pennsylvania should be exactly the kind of state where Clinton can triumph, with its traditional blue-collar Democrats, receptive to her populist economic message as fears mount of a serious economic recession.

And the state is central to Clinton’s claim that she is best-placed to win swing states in November’s general election against Republican John McCain.

A key Clinton supporter, Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, noted that Obama’s “bitter” remarks only reinforced the perception, however mistaken, that the Democratic party was “culturally elite.”

“One of the things we have to ask ourselves is who is in the best position to win some of the swing areas? Small towns, blue collar voters, those kinds of people,” he said on CNN Sunday.

But Clinton’s advantages in Pennsylvania set up fierce expectations, and failure to meet them with a convincing win—of 10 points or more—may be seen more as a defeat than a victory.

“Perception right now is crucial to her being able to continue,” said Julian Zelizer, an elections analyst and history professor at Princeton University.

Former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle, co-chair of the Obama campaign, said Obama had worked in deprived communities and understood when “there’s something wrong.”

“So there may be some optimistic people out there… but I will tell you the vast majority of the people in this country want to see change,” he said on Fox News.

A solid victory in Pennsylvania would boost Clinton going into Indiana, where she is in a dogfight with Obama, and North Carolina where he is favored, and would also help quell questions over her viability.

Obama leads Clinton by 1,641 to 1,505 total delegates heading into Pennsylvania, according to an independent tally by RealClearPolitics.com.

Neither candidate can now win the 2,025 delegates needed to capture the nomination, so the votes of the nearly 800 superdelegates, who can vote how they like at the party convention in August, will be decisive.

Since the “Super Tuesday” nationwide contests in February, Obama, an Illinois senator has enjoyed a steady stream of superdelegate endorsements, and by most tallies has cut Clinton’s advantage in that category to around 30.

After six weeks of long distance sparring, Clinton and Obama will clash in a face-to-face debate in Philadelphia on Wednesday night.

Wire reports

14 Comments

• 

  Sarge at 07:57 AM JST - 14th April

  If Obama does get the nomination, will Hillary retract her "elitist and divisive" comment on Obama?

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  curlygene at 08:34 AM JST - 14th April

  A key Clinton supporter, Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, noted that Obama’s “bitter” remarks only reinforced the perception, however mistaken, that the Democratic party was “culturally elite.”

  But they are culturally elite! That's supposed to be a good thing. Seriously, would you want some cultural moron leading the country...again?

• 

  redacted at 10:25 AM JST - 14th April

  "But they are culturally elite! That's supposed to be a good thing."

  Bubba Clinton with his cigar, "culturally elite"?

• 

  SezWho2 at 10:31 AM JST - 14th April

  If anyone can understand Obama's comments correctly, it should be Republicans. Republicans have, for the last quarter century made a living on cultivating the votes of those to whom niche issues are important.

  The only thing divisive about Obama's comments is Hillary's use of them. The comments themselves are largely true.

• 

  RomeoRamenII at 01:14 PM JST - 14th April

  Sez2:

  "The comments themselves are largely true."

  Really? In barack-o-vision, unemployment encourages church attendance and intolerance of "people who aren't like them."

  But, he himself is an example of the contrary.

  During the 20 years he has continuously attended Trinity United, a church where white people are unwelcome because it preaches the supremacy of "black values" and allegiance to Africa, barack was and still is continuously employed and highly paid.

  RR

• 

  frontandcentre at 01:59 PM JST - 14th April

  redacted - Bill Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. Sounds quite elite to me

• 

  redacted at 02:21 PM JST - 14th April

  "Bill Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. Sounds quite elite to me"

  I'll bet it beat going to Vietnam.

  Shame he never graduated. It is very unusual for a Rhodes scholar to not complete their degrees. I believe Clinton was asked by the university not to return.

  from the Sydney Morning Herald: "Eileen Wellstone: as a 19-year-old student she lodged a complaint of sexual assault against Bill Clinton, in 1969 while he was at Oxford. She reconfirmed the incident to reporters in 1999."

  http://www.smh.com.au/news/paul-sheehan/undone-by-ghost-of-trysts-past/2008/03/02/1204402265736.html

  Guy makes me ashamed to be American.

• 

  redacted at 02:42 PM JST - 14th April

  I'd say it's Newt Gingrich who really understands what Obama said and what he is:

  "If you go to the most expensive private school in Hawaii and then move on to Columbia University and Harvard Law School, you may not understand normal Americans. Their beliefs are so alien to your leftwing viewpoint that you have to seek some psychological explanation for what seem to be weird ideas.

  They can't really believe in the right to bear arms.

  They can't really believe in traditional marriage.

  They can't really believe in their faith in God.

  They can't really want to enforce the law on immigration.

  Therefore, they must be "bitter" and "frustrated."

  This is the closest Senator Obama has come to openly sharing his wife's view that "America is a mean country". Not since Governor Dukakis have we seen anyone so out of touch with normal Americans. It makes perfect sense that it was in a fundraiser in San Francisco that he would have shared the views he has so carefully kept hidden for the entire campaign."

  http://newt.org/Blogs/tabid/59/Default.aspx

• 

  Everton2 at 03:12 PM JST - 14th April

  Even the Italians are now likening their campaign to that of Obama. Even the slogan is the same "yes we can". Obama has inspired millions across the globe which is more than can be said for any other candidate. And yes this is the first time I have really been proud of America.

• 

  frontandcentre at 03:20 PM JST - 14th April

  I'm certain it beat going to Vietnam - and was a more legitimate excuse than the current President's desertion from the safety of the Air Guard.

  Moderator: Back on topic please. References to Bush are of course irrelevant.

• 

  Sarge at 03:23 PM JST - 14th April

  Everton - Question: Why does Obama still go to a church where white people are unwelcome because it preaches the supremacy of "black values" and allegiance to Africa?

• 

  skipthesong at 09:27 PM JST - 14th April

  sarge: There are white people who go to his church. Whites are not prohibited from attending that church.

• 

  SezWho2 at 11:46 PM JST - 14th April

  RomeoRamenII,

  I think you inaccurately state Obama's vision. Be that as it may, however, the statement that "if you are unemployed, then you will likely go to church" does not imply that "if you are in church, then you will likely be unemployed."

• 

  SezWho2 at 11:50 PM JST - 14th April

  Newt Gingrich also calls the Presidential election process a farce and similar to American Idol. He must have forgotten about FDR when he wrote about Obama, however. FDR--now there was a guy who should have been out of touch.

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