Obama and Rockefeller Campaign Across Ohio
COLUMBUS, OHIO -- Despite the fact that he believes he ran a "clean campaign" from the start, Barack Obama repeatedly went after Hillary Clinton at a rally in Westerville, Ohio today. Clinton made a campaign stop at the same Columbus suburb a few hours earlier, but at a different venue.
"This has been a long contest on the Democratic side, and we've had strong candidates throughout, Senator Clinton is a fine candidate and I tried as much as possible to spend my campaign talking not about the flaws of the other candidates but why I am running," Obama told a crowd of over 1,500.
"So I think that I think that the reason we've done well is because people understand that the problem is not who's got the 10-point plan, because everybody's got a 10-point plan. We've all got experts. We've all got accomplishments we can tout, we've all got a track record. The question is who can bring a country together, so you have a working majority to actually bring about change."
During the hour-long town hall meeting, Obama went after Clinton on NAFTA, Iraq and lobbyists, all without mentioning John McCain. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who endorsed Obama just few days ago, was on the campaign trail with Obama today. Despite his long relationship with the Clintons, Rockefeller said he chose Obama because of his character and judgment. He also argued that Obama will be able to withstand Republican attacks if he is the nominee, and that he has more experience than John McCain.
"I think Senator Obama's experience is substantially greater than Senator McCain's," Rockefeller said, "and I know that seems like an odd statement to make right now given McCain's service in Vietnam. I think that it comes down to the past versus the future."