"Hillary Clinton, bless her heart," added Leona McElvene of Warren, Mich., an Obama supporter who snapped photos of him from the stands. "They have to work out something where they can cooperate so we can make the country work better."
Obama's events were as buoyant as Clinton's were subdued. The crowd in Troy leapt to its feet and cheered at line after line of Obama's speech. When he pledged more money for art, music, science and literature classes in public schools, the gymnasium erupted in roars of "Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!"
Standing before a giant "Change We Can Believe In" banner, Obama urged the crowd not to fret over whether Democrats would unite once the nomination fight is settled. He reminded his supporters of widespread anxiety over the Iraq war and the economy. Michigan's unemployment rate is the highest in the nation.
President Bush and McCain, Obama said, "have been so focused on pursuing a flawed and costly war in Iraq that they've lost sight of the problems that have been mounting in Michigan, here at home."
Michigan taxpayer money spent on the Iraq war, he added, could have gone to healthcare, college scholarships and salaries for new teachers.
Borrowing a laugh line from McCain's former Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney, Obama continued, "Sen. McCain conceded not too long ago that he didn't know much about the economy."
The McCain campaign's response to Obama's event -- and what has become its daily ignoring of Clinton -- only added to the sense that the Democratic race was all but over. McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said Obama appeared "desperate to divert attention from his weak judgment on foreign policy."
In South Dakota, Clinton told supporters at a rally in rural Yankton that she was turning to "a new phase in the campaign" -- an effort to win support from superdelegates, the party leaders who are on the verge of declaring a winner.
"Their responsibility not only to the Democratic Party, but to our country, is to vote for the candidate who is best able to lead us to victory in November and best prepared to lead our country into the future," she told the crowd at a school near the Missouri River.
Twice during the Yankton rally, Clinton handed the microphone to her daughter, Chelsea, after she lost her voice. The second time, Clinton left the stage to gargle.
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michael.finnegan@latimes.com
noam.levey@latimes.com
Finnegan reported from Troy, Mich., and Levey from Rapid City and Yankton, S.D.
