Hillary Clinton today tried to bring Barack Obama’s aspirational candidacy back to earth, repeatedly accusing him of misleading voters in an attempt to halt his poll momentum ahead of the Super Tuesday contest.
With opinion polls showing Obama making significant gains ahead of the contest in 22 states, Clinton tried to undermine Obama’s central appeal of being a politician who operated above the usual fray.
In an appearance on ABC television, she repeatedly accused Obama of being "misleading" or making statements that were "untrue" on issues from diplomacy to health care. "I really hope Senator Obama will quit deliberately mis-stating what I have said," she complained.
Obama, in his appearance on the morning chatshows, was just as combative. In an interview on ABC, he suggested her history made her a polarizing figure and that he was more electable. "I think I can get votes that senator Clinton can’t get," he said.
The two contenders for the Democratic nomination are now in a virtual dead heat for the party nomination ahead of Super Tuesday. The two are spending $19m on ads in the final hours of the contest. Obama is advertising in 21 of the 22 states, while Clinton is targeting 19, having apparently given up on Alaska, Colorado, Kansas and Missouri. Neither candidate is running television ads in Obama’s home state of Illinois.
In the Republican race, John McCain could barely disguise his confidence that he will emerge tomorrow as the winner. "I assume that I will get the nomination of the party," McCain told reporters.
Clinton, asked about the erosion of her poll lead on early morning television interviews, said: "This was always going to be a close election."
She used the talk shows to claim Obama’s healthcare plan represented a surrender to the health industry lobbyists that oppose universal coverage. "Honest to goodness it looks like it was written by the health insurance companies," she said. "He is playing right in to all the arguments against this core issue of the Democratic party."
She also sounded a now familiar theme that as a battle-scarred veteran she can better withstand a Republican attacks. "The Republicans are not going to go quietly away," she said. "General elections are much more contested. The other side has no compunction about raising any issue against anyone they are running against."
Weekend polls confirmed the trend that Obama is closing the gap. A Washington Post-ABC news poll showed Clinton on 47% to Obama’s 43%.
MSNBC-McClatchy, polling in key battleground states, also had Obama gaining on Clinton. He was ahead in Georgia, which has a large African American population, by 47% to 41%. The poll even showed him catching up with Clinton in her own backyard, with a gap of only 7% in New Jersey. In Arizona, which had been thought to be in Clinton’s column because of its large Latino population, she was on 43% and Obama on 41%.
The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press said in its poll that Obama had made important inroads among white male voters, especially middle-aged and middle income voters who had previously been solidly behind Clinton. It said he had picked up a significant share of John Edwards’ support following his exit from the race last week.
The poll put Clinton on 46% of the vote nationally, against 38% for Obama.
In addition, the poll detected growing unease among Democratic voters at the idea of having Bill Clinton back in the White House, with 41% expressing concern up from 34% in October.
Both camps were using the final hours of the campaign to appeal to core constituencies – although there was an agreed suspension of campaigning for tonight’s Super Bowl contest. Clinton was in Missouri while Obama made a quick trip to Delaware. McCain made a foray into Romney’s home turf of Massachusetts while Romney spent the morning in Minnesota.
Candidates’ spouses were also on the move. Bill Clinton was due to watch the football game with Bill Richardson, one of the most high profile Latino politicians and a former governor of New Mexico who dropped out of the Democratic race last month.
Michelle Obama was to appear with Oprah Winfrey at a pre-game rally in Los Angeles in an attempt to win over women voters. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, plans an hour-long broadcast on Hallmark television, a cable channel with a strongly female viewership, Monday night.
On the Republican side, Romney managed to chalk up a victory on Saturday in the caucuses on Maine but polls suggest that McCain will be difficult to stop tomorrow.
Pew gave the senator from Arizona a formidable lead nationally, with 42% of the vote against 22% for Romney. McCain now dominates all segments of the Republican electorate, except for evangelical voters where he is tied in support for Mike Huckabee, the poll said.