Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama made final appeals on Sunday before this week's Indiana and North Carolina primaries, with Clinton sounding like a full-throated populist in highlighting her stance on the gas tax and Obama seizing on the issue to cast his opponent as a political opportunist.
The two Democratic candidates used dueling appearances on Sunday morning talk shows, campaign stops across Indiana and TV and radio advertisements to square off over pocketbook concerns of voters, especially the high price of gasoline.
Clinton also indirectly revived her charge that Obama was an elitist and unsympathetic to the economic worries of average voters. Appearing on the ABC program "This Week," she cast opposition to her plan to suspend the federal gas tax this summer as an "elite" view.
Asked to name an economist who agreed with her plan, Clinton said, "I'm not going to put in my lot with economists."
Obama and his team continued to push back on Sunday, deriding Clinton's gas-tax proposal as a gimmick intended to help her catch up with his lead in the national popular vote and the race to win delegates for the nomination.
"The Clinton Gas Plan isn't designed to get you through the summer, it's designed to get her through the election," read an Obama leaflet in Indiana.
Obama, who campaigned door to door in northern Indiana, also sought to end the furor over his delay of several weeks in breaking ties with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. after Wright's explosive comments on race and America came to light.
Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," Obama said he chose to denounce Wright last Tuesday after the pastor made more incendiary remarks. "What really changed was a sense that he was going to double-down on the statements that he made before," Obama said."
