US presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have gone on the attack as campaigning time runs out ahead of Tuesday's crucial Democratic presidential primary in Pennsylvania.
Senator Clinton accused Senator Obama of cheerleading for presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, after he said the Arizona senator would be a better president than George W Bush, apparently contradicting Democratic strategy.
Senator Obama's camp, meanwhile, looked past tomorrow’s primary - which polls suggest Senator Clinton will win, but short of the landslide her supporters hope for - to warn time was running out for the former first lady's uphill comeback bid.
Mrs Clinton charged Mr McCain would prolong the war in Iraq as well as President Bush's ‘failed economic policies’.
‘We need a nominee who will take on John McCain, not cheer on John McCain, and I will be that nominee,’ Mrs Clinton said.
Mr Obama earlier said in Reading, eastern Pennsylvania, that either Democrat would be better than Mr McCain, and ‘all three of us would be better than George Bush’.
Mrs Clinton also laid into Mr Obama after he attacked her plan for universal healthcare, a key election issue in economically struggling Pennsylvania, which has seen its traditional heavy manufacturing base shattered by foreign competition.
‘This week we had a debate, and it showed you the choice you have,’ Senator Clinton told supporters in the eastern town of Bethlehem, which saw its 150-year-old steelworks go bankrupt a decade ago.
‘It's no wonder that my opponent has been so negative these last few days of the campaign because I think you saw a real difference between us.’
Senator Obama, leading Senator Clinton in nominating wins, the popular vote and elected delegates with only 10 contests to go, pressed home his own attacks, after accusing Mrs Clinton of adopting ‘slash and burn’ tactics on Saturday.
He said Mrs Clinton was now using on him the kind of withering attacks that she suffered as first lady in the White House between 1993 and 2001.
A new MSNBC/McClatchy poll yesterday showed Mrs Clinton holding a five point, 48% to 43% lead in Pennsylvania, consistent with previous surveys, pointing to a possible win, but short of the blowout observers predict she needs.
Senator Clinton hopes to win big to sow doubts about Mr Obama's viability in a general election against Republican presumptive nominee John McCain.
She argues that only she can capture the big states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, packed with socially conservative blue-collar voters, that Democrats need to piece together a route back to the White House.
After a 15-month race, neither Democrat is expected to reach the tally of 2,025 nominating delegates to claim the nomination outright.
So Mrs Clinton needs to convince nearly 800 superdelegates - top party officials who can vote how they like at August's party convention - that it would be too risky to pick the inexperienced Mr Obama to fight Mr McCain in November.
