Controversies Follow Obama to Indiana

From CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic:

INDIANAPOLIS -- Barack Obama found himself again addressing questions about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy and allegations that he is an "elitist." Despite countless attempts to dismiss the issues, often describing them as “distractions”, the controversies resurface frequently on the campaign trail. Today a local reporter asked Obama if he has an image problem, telling him that some people are concerned that he looks too much like a “GQ” magazine cover.

With an Indiana gas station as the backdrop, Obama found himself having to explain the number of shoes that he has, number of haircuts, and his infamous bowling score in Pennsylvania.

“I have four pairs of shoes. Recently I’ve taken to getting a haircut more frequently than I used to because my mother-in-law makes fun of me,” Obama explained.

He blamed the concerns about his image on his opponents, who he accuses of painting him as in “elitist out of touch”, and said that he will remind people of who is over the next several weeks.

“I’m gonna be fighting as hard as I can to make sure that people understand why I got into this race in the first place, how I got to where I am today, and when they understand that, I think they’ll recognize themselves and that my struggles are theirs and together we can change the country.”

True to that comment, he made sure to point out his non-elite upbringing: "I was raised in a setting with my grandparents who grew up in small town Kansas, where the dinner table would have been familiar to a lot of people here in Indiana – a lot of pot roasts and potatoes and Jell-o molds."

The controversy surrounding his relationship with Rev. Wright also resurfaced after Wright gave an interview to PBS. Obama took an even firmer stand against some of Wright’s comments, saying that he had “profound disagreements” with them and that he took offense to them.

"He is obviously free to express his opinions on these issues. I've expressed mine very clearly. I think that what he said in several instances were objectionable and I understand why the American people took offense and, you know, and as I indicated before, I took offense.”