Clinton Knocks Obama tactics

US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has made her fiercest denunciation so far of Barack Obama, her rival for the Democratic Party nomination.

Mrs Clinton accused the Illinois senator of producing a misleading leaflet on her health care policy.

"Shame on you, Barack Obama!" the New York senator said at a rally in Ohio, which holds its primary in 10 days.

But Mr Obama said he stood by the leaflet, saying he was puzzled by what he called his rival's change in tone.

"Enough with the speeches and the big rallies and then using tactics that are right out of Karl Rove's playbook," said the former first lady ahead of Ohio's crucial primary early next month.
Both the Ohio and the Texas primaries, both being held on 4 March, are being seen as must-wins for Mrs Clinton.

'Sharper elbows'

Mr Obama, who has won 11 consecutive primaries and caucuses in recent weeks, is now seen as the Democratic front-runner.

But Mrs Clinton's campaign has struggled to find an effective way to cope with her rival's extraordinary momentum and has decided to "go negative", says the BBC's Kevin Connolly in Washington.

She and her advisers have clearly calculated that the state of the race now calls for sharper elbows and a sharper tone, our correspondent adds.

Mr Obama now has at least 1,353 of the 2,025 delegates he needs to secure the Democratic nomination at the party's convention in August, according to an Associated Press projection.

Mrs Clinton has 1,264 delegates. Texas and Ohio have a combined total of 334 delegates up for grabs.

Correspondents say the blue-collar vote will be crucial in both contests, and the Clinton campaign has already begun targeting lower-income workers in its ads.

But in his drive to become the first black US president, Mr Obama has recently gained support from some powerful unions, including the Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union.

Pacific delegates

Meanwhile, John McCain was given a further boost by the Pacific islands of Northern Marianas which chose its nine Republican delegates on Saturday.

The islands are among three US Pacific territories each sending nine delegates to the Republican convention in Minnesota this September, and delegates have praised the former Vietnam prisoner for his knowledge of their islands.

Republicans in American Samoa also announced that all nine of their delegates would support Mr McCain.

Guam Republicans take their decision on 8 March.

The latest results give the Arizona senator a total of 976 delegates, according to the Associated Press, and he needs 1,191 delegates to secure the Republican nomination.

His rival, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, trails far behind with 254 delegates.

Republican Rivals Unite In Attacking Clinton

Republican presidential hopefuls heading to a key Florida primary put on a show of civility Thursday during a debate that contrasted with the bitter squabbling between Democratic front-runners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

The four leading Republican candidates all expressed support for the Iraq war, called for deeper tax cuts and even exchanged compliments, keeping their sharpest barbs for Senator Clinton.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Senator John McCain, who lead the Republican field, both lashed out at the former first lady's stance on the Iraq war.

Americans "don't want us to raise the white flag of surrender like Senator Clinton does," McCain said during the 90-minute debate in Boca Raton, Florida. "They know they can win."

Romney also called for increasing the size of the US armed forces by 100,000 troops to about 1.6 million.

The debate was seen as a crucial test ahead of Tuesday's Florida primary, considered pivotal for the Republicans because it delivers 57 delegates to the national assembly that will nominate the party's presidential candidate.

It is also the last major vote in the Republican race before a blitz of state primaries on February 5 known as Super Tuesday.

The race is seen as a make-or-break test for former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who has staked his all on the state's primary but has seen support erode rapidly as his rivals picked up victories in smaller states.

Giuliani dismissed speculation the Florida primary would sound the death knell for his campaign.

"I think we'll do very well in Florida and very well on February 5th," he said.

A voter intention poll out Thursday indicated Romney and McCain were running neck-and-neck in the Florida race.

The Mason Dixon poll, conducted for a group of Florida newspapers, had Romney taking 30 percent and McCain 26 percent, with a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points.

Giuliani was in third place with 18 percent of likely voters and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee had 13 percent.

Buoyed by recent victories in South Carolina and Louisiana, McCain has picked up a crop of endorsements, including one from General Norman Schwarzkopf, who led allied forces in the 1991 Gulf War, and another from Rambo actor Sylvester Stallone.

McCain's status as a Vietnam war hero could help him in Florida, a state that is home to many war veterans and military bases.

Romney, for his part, has focused on his economic credentials at a time when many Americans fear the country could be headed toward recession.

"I spent my life in the real economy," Romney said in a television campaign ad, playing up his history as a venture capitalist with a reputation for successfully turning around ailing companies.

On the Democratic side, the candidates stayed away from Florida where their primary will not count because it is being held earlier than allowed under national party rules.

Clinton and Obama, a senator for Illinois, were campaigning hard in South Carolina, which holds a Democratic primary on Saturday.

Their campaigning has been overshadowed in recent days by a blazing dispute between Clinton's husband, former president Bill Clinton, and Obama.

Obama is leading by double digits in South Carolina, with a Zogby poll on Thursday giving him 39 percent, with Clinton getting 24 percent. John Edwards is running third with 19 percent.

After winning in the first vote in Iowa, Obama is counting on a new victory in South Carolina to boost his momentum going into Super Tuesday, after he lost the last votes in New Hampshire and Nevada to Clinton.

But Clinton got a strong boost from the New York Times, which gave her a glowing endorsement.

"Hearing her talk about the presidency, her policies and answers for America's big problems, we are hugely impressed by the depth of her knowledge, by the force of her intellect and by the breadth of, yes, her experience," the paper said.