Clinton barnstorms in Ohio

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – With less than two days to go before Tuesday’s crucial contests that could determine the fate of her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Rodham Clinton sought to shore up support with a frenzied tour across Ohio today.

After focusing on national security in Texas on Saturday, Clinton shifted her emphasis to the economy during Sunday’s rallies in the Buckeye State.

In Westerville, Clinton pledged to fight predatory lending practices and to create millions of jobs.

“The middle class is under tremendous pressure,” she said. “The question is: How are we going to make progress together?”

Later, she told about 1,000 supporters in Youngstown that she had a better economic plan than either John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, or Barack Obama, her Democratic opponent.

“McCain has said he doesn’t know much about the economy other than he’s going to continue the Bush policies,” she told a packed crowd in the gym at Austintown-Fitch High School.

Clinton also promised to abolish tax breaks for companies that export jobs overseas.

“I have been critical of NAFTA,” she said, referring to the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. “Unlike my opponent in the primary, I’ve put together a very specific plan for what we’re going to do about it.”

The New York senator is scrambling to recover from 11 straight primary and caucus losses and has struggled to counter Obama’s messages of hope and change. As her once-considerable lead has diminished, she has sharpened her attacks, accusing her rival of empty oratory.

Brenda Risacher, 54, who attended Clinton’s first event in Westerville, echoed those charges.

“Obama is a showman – very theatrical,” she said, adding that, if Clinton lost the Democratic nomination to Obama, she would not vote for the Illinois senator in the general election.

Clinton’s campaign stops today were part of an “88 counties in 88 hours” sprint across the state.

Speaking to reporters, Clinton’s state director in Ohio, Robby Mook, pointed to a bevy of state leaders, including Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, who have endorsed the former first lady. Yet in recent contests, Clinton’s support from the Democratic establishment has not proved a match for Obama’s organization on the ground.

Clinton is under pressure to win the primaries in delegate-rich Texas and Ohio by wide margins. Most polls, however, show her virtually tied with Obama, who has raised and spent more money. Voters also go to the polls in Vermont and Rhode Island on Tuesday.

Obama is scheduled to speak today at many of the same venues as Clinton.

“Once again, it’s up to us,” announced a headline in Sunday’s Columbus Dispatch, referring to Ohio’s status as a swing state in recent general elections.

In an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation” this morning, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who dropped his bid for the Democratic nomination in January, called the Texas and Ohio contests “D-Day.”

“Whoever has the most delegates after Tuesday, a clear lead, should be, in my judgment, the nominee,” he said. Richardson, one of the 796 superdelegates to the Democratic convention, has not yet endorsed a candidate, and said today that he was “legitimately torn.”

Clinton began her day today by addressing more than 1,000 supporters packed into the gym at Westerville North High School, some carrying babies on their arms, others holding up signs saying “Madame President.”

She was scheduled to speak to voters at Garfield High School in Akron and at Cleveland State University later in the day.

Clinton disappeared from the trail Saturday evening to appear on “Saturday Night Live” for a skit about Obama getting preferential treatment by the media – a frequent complaint from her campaign.

She is scheduled to appear Monday on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.”

louise.roug@latimes.com

Times staff writer Robin Fields in Washington contributed to this report.