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Clinton unloads full-barrel attack

By Times Wires
Published February 26, 2008

WASHINGTON 

After struggling for months to dent Sen. Barack Obama's candidacy, the campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is unleashing what one Clinton aide called a "kitchen sink" fusillade against him, pursuing five lines of attack since Saturday in hopes of stopping his political momentum.

After angrily denouncing Obama over the weekend for an anti-Clinton flier about the NAFTA trade treaty, and then sarcastically portraying his message of hope on Sunday as naive, Clinton delivered a blistering speech on Monday that compared Obama's lack of foreign policy experience to that of the candidate George W. Bush.

"We've seen the tragic result of having a president who had neither the experience nor the wisdom to manage our foreign policy and safeguard our national security," Clinton said in a speech on foreign policy at George Washington University. "We can't let that happen again."

With a debate in Ohio tonight, both Clinton's advisers and independent political analysts said that, by going negative against Obama when polls in Texas and Ohio show a tightening race, Clinton risks alienating voters.

WASHINGTON

Democratic governors fear McCain's power

Democratic governors from states likely to help decide the 2008 presidential election see Republican Sen. John McCain as a potentially formidable opponent, despite conditions that they say now favor their nominee.

Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona, McCain's home state: "To quote President Bush, McCain is never to be misunderestimated. He's a tough campaigner."

Gov. Edward Rendell of Pennsylvania, a Clinton supporter: "In some ways he's the ideal (Republican) candidate for Pennsylvania. He's going to contest for those suburban voters that have been delivering Pennsylvania to Democratic presidential candidates for the last four elections."

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who also supports Clinton: "He is appealing in Michigan. He does appeal to independent thinkers, at least he did in the past, and we have a lot of those in Michigan. Whoever the Democrat is, Michigan is a state where we're going to have to work."

WASHINGTON

Photo of Obama in Africa garb makes stir

A photo circulating on the Internet of Obama dressed in traditional local garments during a visit to Kenya in 2006 appeared on the Drudge Report, a gossip and news site, and the item's author, Matt Drudge, said the image was provided by a Clinton staff member.

Obama aide David Plouffe said that if it circulated the photo the Clinton campaign had "engaged in the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we've seen from either party."

Clinton's new campaign manager, Maggie Williams, issued a withering reply: "If Barack Obama's campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely." Williams did not take responsibility for the photograph.

Times wires

[Last modified February 26, 2008, 00:21:36]