DEMOCRATS Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are attacking each other with some of the toughest rhetoric of the US presidential campaign, with eight days remaining in the fierce battle for votes in Pennsylvania.
Seeking to overcome Mr Obama's advantage nationwide in delegates and popular vote, the former First Lady called the Illinois senator an elitist after disclosure of remarks he made at a San Francisco fundraiser that suggested working-class people are
bitter about their economic circumstances and "cling to guns and religion" as a result.
The first term senator, who would be the first African-American president, retorted that Mrs Clinton is insincere and that her concerns for working-class voters in states like Pennsylvania are a sham. The north-eastern state's 22 April primary is seen as a must-win for Mrs Clinton.
Mr Obama, who still holds a nine-point advantage over Mrs Clinton in the nationwide Gallup Poll, is battling back.
On Sunday, Mr Obama reiterated his regret for his choice of words but suggested they had been twisted.
He said he had expected an assault from Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain, but had been "a little disappointed" to be criticised by Mrs Clinton, mocking her vocal support for gun rights and saying her record in the Senate did not match her words on the campaign trail.
"She knows better. Shame on her. Shame on her," Mr Obama told an audience at a union hall. Mr Obama noted that Mrs Clinton seemed much more interested in guns since he made his comments than in the past.
"She is running around talking about how this is an insult to sportsmen, how she values the Second Amendment. She's talking like she's Annie Oakley,"
"Hillary Clinton is out there like she's on the duck blind every Sunday. She's packing a six-shooter. Come on, she knows better. That's some politics being played by Hillary Clinton," he said.
Mrs Clinton has told campaign audiences that she supports the rights of hunters. This weekend, she reminisced about learning to shoot on family vacations in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where her father grew up. She's also said she once shot a duck in Arkansas.
Mrs Clinton has pounded Mr Obama since Friday, when tape from his San Francisco appearance was posted on The Huffington Post website.
She hoped the comments might give her a new opening to court working-class Democrats less than 10 days before the Pennsylvania primary on 22 April, which she needs to win to keep her campaign going.
Campaigning in Scranton on Sunday, Mrs Clinton suggested that Mr Obama's San Francisco remarks would alienate voters in Pennsylvania and other states holding primaries in the coming weeks.
"Senator Obama has not owned up to what he said and taken accountability for it," she told reporters during an informal news conference outside a home. "What people are looking for is an explanation. What does he really believe? How does he see people here in this neighbourhood, throughout Pennsylvania, Indiana, North Carolina, other places in our country? And I think that's what people are looking for, some explanation, and he has simply not provided one."
Indiana and North Carolina vote on 6 May.
"I think it's very critical that the Democrats really focus in on this and make it clear that we are not (elitist). We are going to stand up and fight for all Americans," Mrs Clinton said.
Mr Obama sees himself at a disadvantage in the Pennsylvania primary and with an advantage in North Carolina. That means that Indiana, where polls show Mrs Clinton holding a single-digit lead, could play a pivotal role in resolving the epic Democratic nomination battle.
According to the latest Associated Press tally, Mr Obama leads Mrs Clinton in the convention delegate count 1,639-1,503, including superdelegates – party elders and elected officials who can vote for whichever candidate they choose, regardless of the popular vote in state primaries and caucuses.
Neither candidate will be able to clinch the 2,025 delegates needed to win the nomination without the approval of superdelegates.
