Democratic Race Intensifies as Big Day Looms

Democratic Race Intensifies as Big Day Looms By ELISABETH BUMILLER and JOHN M. BRODER The presidential candidates set their sights on Texas Monday in a burst of last-minute campaigning before the polls open there and in Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont on Tuesday morning. The Democratic race continued to intensify, with the latest opinion surveys showing Senator Barack Obama with a slight edge over Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Texas, but Mrs. Clinton with a small lead over Mr. Obama in Ohio. Mrs. Clinton began her day in Ohio, where she said she would make no predictions about Tuesday’s primaries or comment on what the results might mean for her campaign. “I am not a political pundit,” she said at a brief news conference in Toledo on Monday morning. “I’ll leave that to you all.” She said that succeeding in the four primaries on Tuesday meant coming in first. “Winning, that’s my measure of success,” she said. “Winning.” But she gave no indication that losses would drive her from the race. “I think we’re going to do well tomorrow,” she said. “Then it’s on to Pennsylvania and the states still ahead. I’m just getting warmed up.” Despite Mrs. Clinton’s upbeat tone, there were signs that her campaign was under stress and was engaged in internal finger-pointing after 11 straight primary and caucus defeats. In an e-mail message sent over the weekend to The Los Angeles Times, Mark Penn, Mrs. Clinton’s chief strategist and pollster, appeared to distance himself from the campaign’s operations. The Los Angeles Times quoted Mr. Penn as writing in the e-mail that he had “no direct authority in the campaign.” The newspaper also quoted him describing himself as merely “an outside message adviser with no campaign staff reporting to me.” The e-mail message continued: “I have had no say or involvement in four key areas — the financial budget and resource allocation, political or organizational sides. Those were the responsibility of Patti Solis Doyle, Harold Ickes and Mike Henry, and they met separately on all matters relating to those areas.” Last month Ms. Doyle stepped down as Mrs. Clinton’s campaign manager and Mr. Henry resigned from the post of deputy campaign manager. Mr. Ickes remains as a senior adviser. Howard Wolfson, the campaign’s communications chief, responded to Mr. Penn’s e-mail message by telling The Los Angeles Times that it was Mr. Penn who had top responsibility for the campaign’s message, and who ran daily meetings on the topic. Another aide told the newspaper that Mr. Penn spoke to Mrs. Clinton regularly. In Toledo, Mrs. Clinton used her press conference to press her campaign’s attack on Mr. Obama for its position on the North America Free Trade Agreement, known as Nafta. Both candidates have told voters in Ohio, where the trade treaty is widely blamed for job losses, that they think the treaty is flawed and should be renegotiated. But the Clinton campaign, citing news reports, has accused Austan Goolsbee, a senior economic adviser to Mr. Obama, of telling Canadian officials that Mr. Obama’s opposition to Nafta is largely a political tactic, not a serious policy position. Canadian television and The Associated Press have reported that Mr. Goolsbee told a Canadian official in Chicago that Mr. Obama’s private position on Nafta was different from his public stance. Mr. Goolsbee and the Obama campaign have responded that his remarks were misinterpreted. Mrs. Clinton raised the issue Monday morning. “I don’t think people should come to Ohio. and you both give speeches that are very critical of Nafta and you send out misleading and false information about my positions regarding Nafta, and then we find out that your chief economic adviser has gone to a foreign government and basically done the old wink-wink, don’t pay any attention, this is just political rhetoric.” She pressed the point. “I think it raises serious questions about what you expect them to believe about your position,” Mrs. Clinton said. In response, the Obama campaign accused Mrs. Clinton of using false ammunition in a desperate attempt to try to remain in the race. “Senator Clinton knows full well that she’s not telling the truth on this story, and that her blatant distortion is just part of her campaign’s stated strategy to throw the kitchen sink at Senator Obama in the closing days of this campaign,” Bill Burton, the Obama campaign spokesman, said in a statement e-mailed to reporters. “The truth is, Senator Clinton called Nafta a victory and has switched positions for raw political reasons. Her false attack won’t protect American workers, but as President, Senator Obama will.” Mr. Obama kept up the pressure on Mrs. Clinton in an appearance on the ABC program “Good Morning America” on Monday morning, when he pushed the idea that she should consider getting out of the race if she did not perform well on Tuesday. “I think that’ll be up to Senator Clinton,” Mr. Obama said. “But if we do well in Texas and Ohio, I think the math is such where it’s going to be hard for her to win the nomination, and they’ll have to make a decision about how much longer they want to pursue it.” Mr. Obama added: “I would assume that there are going to be people who want to bring this to an end one way or another, because John McCain’s out there — the reputed Republican nominee — and he’s given a little bit of a free pass.” In her Toledo news conference, Mrs. Clinton was also asked to comment on a statement she made on the CBS News program “60 Minutes” on Sunday night, when asked if she believed Mr. Obama was a Muslim. (Mr. Obama is a member of a Christian church in Chicago.) “There’s nothing to base that on, as far as I know,” Mrs. Clinton said on the television program. On Monday morning, she denied that she believed Mr. Obama was Muslim. “No, not at all,” she said. “Obviously I’ve been the subject of scurrilous rumors for years. You know it’s hard to get them to go away, and they just keep coming back. I really sympathize with Senator Obama.” She added, “I hope people get beyond it and ignore it.” Mr. Obama was scheduled to hold a town-hall meeting at noon Central time in San Antonio. Senator John McCain planned to hold a news conference in Phoenix after a weekend at his Arizona ranch, and then hold another in Lubbock, Tex., and attend fundraisers there and in Waco. Polls in Ohio and Texas showed Mr. McCain with significant leads over his remaining Republican challenger, Mike Huckabee, who was scheduled to hold a midday rally and a news conference in Abilene, Tex. For her part, Mrs. Clinton was wasting little time sleeping. After a full day of campaigning in Ohio on Sunday, she reached Toledo after midnight, and then was up well before dawn to shake hands at a factory gate, beginning at 5:35 a.m. Eastern time on Monday. She stood just inside the turnstile at Chrysler’s Toledo North Assembly plant, greeting workers as if she were running for a city council seat rather than leader of the free world. “Help me out tomorrow, please,” she implored as workers passed by. “I’d be honored to have your vote.” The reactions from the workers ranged from thrilled to startled. “Hillary, all right!” exclaimed one. “Hillary Clinton, you’re a very strong woman,” said another. “Hillary, you look so young!” enthused a third. Mrs. Clinton, 60, liked that. “Did everyone hear that? Did you get it on tape?” she asked the camera operators clustered around her. A number of workers conspicuously avoided the candidate, walking through a muddy area to enter the plant. One worker was pulled along by the crowd and ended up shaking Senator Clinton’s hand. “Aw, man,” he said. “Now I have to go home and wash my hands.” He declined to give his name. But mostly the workers seemed delighted to have at least a brief break from their routine and a chance to see a global celebrity. Deborah Young, 51, a vehicle inspector, was mildly awestruck. “Isn’t she the coolest?” she said.