By Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers and Maria L. La Ganga, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers|February 24, 2008
CINCINNATI — In a move to salvage her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Rodham Clinton adopted a newly bellicose tone toward rival Barack Obama on Saturday, saying he was making false and shameful attacks on her record.
The New York senator mocked Obama's speaking skills and his power to draw tens of thousands of supporters to rallies that have dwarfed her more modest events. Clinton scolded Obama for two campaign mailings that she described as distortions of her positions on healthcare and trade.
"Enough with the speeches and the big rallies, and then using tactics right out of Karl Rove's playbook," she said, alluding to President Bush's chief political advisor. "This is wrong, and every Democrat should be outraged."
Clinton's rhetorical blasts came 10 days before contests in Ohio and Texas that could doom her candidacy after a streak of 11 defeats. The losses have battered her campaign as much as they have buoyed her rival's.
Clinton made her remarks to a cluster of reporters as the crowd dispersed from a rally at an Ohio college gymnasium. Waving the mailings and raising her voice, Clinton accused the Illinois senator of "perpetuating falsehoods."
Obama declined to match Clinton's anger in his response at a campaign stop in Columbus.
His mailings were accurate and had circulated for weeks, he said. "So I'm puzzled by the sudden change in tone. Unless these were just brought to her attention, it makes me think that there's something tactical about her getting so exercised this morning."
For the most part, Obama looked past Clinton on Saturday, turning his focus to John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, and criticism of the Arizona senator's healthcare agenda and ties with lobbyists.
For Clinton supporters, Obama's string of victories has prompted growing concern.
"I'm not real hopeful," hospital worker Linda Grant, 60, said after cheering Clinton at a boisterous Friday night rally in a Toledo school gymnasium. Grant's angst reflected the gloom surrounding Clinton's campaign as she approaches the March 4 contests that her advisors long assumed would be afterthoughts to her crowning as Democratic nominee.
Shuttling between Texas and Ohio, Clinton has been traveling at a pace more typical for the final weeks before a general election. Her campaign swings often start at dawn and extend beyond midnight.
