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INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana: Barack Obama accused Hillary Clinton of sabre-rattling on Iran, but her camp claimed he was "running scared" as she fired up her comeback bid two days before their next White House nominating clashes.
The Democratic rivals stepped up attacks ahead of Tuesday's pivotal primaries in Indiana and North Carolina, as Obama hoped yet again to knock his rival out of the marathon struggle for the party's nomination.
Clinton was asked whether she had any regrets about threatening to "totally obliterate" Iran if it used nuclear weapons against Israel, which prompted Tehran to complain to the United Nations last week.
"Why would I have any regrets? I am asked a question about what I would do if Iran attacked our ally, a country that many of us have a great deal of, you know, connection with and feeling for," she said.
But Obama accused Clinton of emulating what he called President George W. Bush's "foreign policy of bluster and sabre-rattling and tough talk."
The Clinton campaign however was cheered by polls showing the New York Senator locked in a close race in Indiana and cutting Obama's once huge lead North Carolina.
Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said "it's clear the Obama campaign is running scared right now".
"They're currently watching our candidate catch fire on the stump and generate a significant amount of momentum going into election day."
The Obama campaign hit back though with an ad excoriating Clinton's call for a temporary moratorium on federal gasoline taxes, which the Illinois senator has ridiculed as a "gimmick".
"More low road attacks from Hillary Clinton," the ad's announcer says. "Clinton aides admit it won't do much for you – but would help her politically."
Obama made another attempt to finally quell the controversy sparked by racially tinged comments by his former pastor Jeremiah Wright, which rattled his campaign in a miserable April, and gave underdog Clinton fresh hope.
He accused Wright of putting "gasoline on the fire" last week with a combative round of public appearances, and said the Reverend's statements were "fundamentally" at odds with his own vision.
The Illinois senator also vowed that he would let his patriotism be maligned by Republican attacks in a general election.
"I love this country," said the Illinois senator, 46. "It is what I have been fighting for, that America lives up to its values and its ideals."
Clinton still however trails Obama in nominating contests and pledged delegates, so her last hope is to persuade Democratic party bosses or superdelegates, that Obama is too risky to put up against Republican John McCain in November.
"When the process finishes in early June, people can look at all the various factors and decide who will be the strongest candidate," the New York senator, 60, said on ABC News at a town-hall meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana.
"I feel like I am going to be able to stand up to Senator McCain," said Clinton, who has promised a "game-changer" on Tuesday, after which only six contests will be left in the Democrats' exhausting nominating marathon.
A new Zogby poll gave Obama the lead in North Carolina – 48 percent to Clinton's 39. But the race in Indiana, a true battleground, was much tighter with him on 43 percent to her 41, well within the four-point margin of error.
Clinton led an average of recent polls in Indiana by RealClearPolitics.com by nearly six points.
In a pan-Pacific warm-up for Tuesday, Obama eked out a victory in Guam's caucuses by seven votes on Saturday, meaning the four pledged delegates up for grabs will likely be shared.
Clinton trails Obama in contests won and elected delegates. Conventional wisdom has it that she needs to win rust-belt Indiana, at least, to keep her improbable comeback bid alive.
- AFP/so
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