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| Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., greets supporters as he arrives for a stop at a train station in Paoli, Pa., Saturday, April 19, 2008. |
WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) -- Barack Obama cast his Democratic presidential rival Saturday as a game-player who uses "slash and burn" tactics and can't be trusted to say what she believes, a sharp jab at her character in the closing chapter of the pivotal Pennsylvania primary campaign.
Hillary Rodham Clinton implored voters to look beyond "whoop dee do" speechmaking and take a hard look at who's got the know-how to deal with the nation's burdens.
"I want everyone thinking," she declared, as if to suggest those backing Obama are not. Her implication was clear: She's substance, he's flash.
Altogether, the campaign for Tuesday's contest was closing with the sort of acrimony that party leaders wish would end in a hurry, before it damages the nominee in the fall. Obama's criticisms were direct, while Clinton's were oblique. At various times in the protracted contest, it's been the other way around.
The primary Tuesday follows a monthlong hiatus in voting, a gap the candidates filled in large measure by sullying each other.
Party officials known as superdelegates continued drifting toward Obama in that interim, increasing his edge in the race despite his series of gaffes, and that trend is bound to accelerate if he performs strongly Tuesday. Clinton is hoping a decisive win will put a stop to that. Polls have suggested she has a consistent if shrinking lead.
The New York senator spoke under a baking sun outside West Chester's 175-year-old fire house, striking a somber note about problems at home and abroad as she described the stakes for voters Tuesday. She asked them to think about the looming challenge of China, the restive Middle East, the trade imbalance and the debt burden.
"I don't want to just show up and give one of those whoop-dee-do speeches and get everybody whipped up," she said. "I want everyone thinking."
As she looked to exploit questions about his gravitas, he played on poll findings indicating unease with her veracity, and did so head on.
In Wynnewood, several thousand supporters lined the tracks for the first stop on his daylong whistle-stop tour aboard a royal blue train car that pulled out of Philadelphia in late morning.
"I may not be perfect but I will always tell you what I think, and I will always tell you where I stand," he told the crowd. Then he spoke of his rival.
"She's taken different positions at different times on issues as fundamental as trade, or even the war, to suit the politics of the moment. And when she gets caught at it, the notion is, well, you know what, that's just politics. That's how it works in Washington. You can say one thing here and say another thing there."
He amplified the point at a later stop, in Paoli.
"Senator Clinton's essential argument in this campaign is you can't change how the game is played in Washington. Her basic argument is that the slash-and-burn, say-anything, do-anything special interest-driven politics is how it works.... Senator Clinton has internalized a lot of the strategies, the tactics, that have made Washington such a miserable place."
So much for Obama's recent above-the-fray attitude. Not since Clinton was the front-runner last year has her character been so bluntly criticized. Then-candidate John Edwards portrayed her as a defender of a corrupt Washington system.
Casual without a tie or jacket, his shirt sleeves rolled up, the Illinois senator shook hands with conductors and rail-workers on the platform in Philadelphia and set off, pulling the train whistle. Flags and bunting draped the back. The train had four stops en route to his evening rally in Harrisburg.
Earlier, Obama canvassed in the Mayfair district of Philadelphia for 40 minutes, knocking on doors and making small talk and policy talk with neighbors sitting on their doorsteps and lawns.
Don Robertson told him his monthly payments rose by at least $600 on property he owns in Florida and he's struggling to keep up with them because he was recently laid off. "I hope you can do something about home foreclosures," he said. Obama described efforts in Congress to help.
"We just passed something in the Senate but they started loading it up with tax breaks for property developers," Obama said. "That's what we're up against."
Clinton planned five events across the state as both campaigns prepared for the sprint to Tuesday. Nick Clemons, her Pennsylvania director, said the campaign would deploy 5,000 volunteers to place phone calls and knock on doors. "This is not going to be a blowout race," he said. "We're looking for a win, and we think it's going to be a close race."
Former President Clinton told a small crowd in Wilkes-Barre that his wife can win if her supporters come out. The outcome "is basically going to be determined by whether you want it bad enough," he said. "You give her a big vote out of here, she'll wake up in a different world, and so will you, and America will have a better tomorrow."
Obama leads Clinton in overall delegates, 1,645-1,507, with 2,025 needed to win the nomination. Obama also has a thin lead in the popular vote that Clinton hopes to overcome before the final ballots are cast in June.
