COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Inside and outside the Beltway, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton spent the day before a regional primary here making last-minute appeals Monday that featured the kind of cold political calculation common in the capital.
While Obama held mass rallies in sports arenas that reverberated with cheers, Clinton stuck to smaller venues, including a political science class at the University of Virginia, as both argued they were better equipped to take on Republican John McCain in the fall and deliver on Democratic priorities from the White House.
Clinton sat in a leather chair on stage at a university lecture hall in Charlottesville, Va., and declared herself better able to cross “the commander in chief threshold” in a general election, implying Obama would have a more difficult time.
Obama drew roars from a crowd of more than 17,000 at the University of Maryland in College Park, as he boasted, “I may be skinny, but I’m tough too,” and told them he was looking forward “to mixing it up with John McCain.”
Both candidates have sharpened their focus on arguments over electability as McCain has emerged as the presumptive Republican nominee and the contest between the two Democrats has tightened.
It is an argument that appeals to partisan Democrats hungry to retake the White House. But perceptions of who is the stronger candidate also could sway the party insiders who are unelected “superdelegates” and would help determine the outcome if there is no clear winner by the end of the primary season.
An Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Monday showed Obama leading McCain in a head-to-head matchup, 48 percent to 42 percent. Clinton was in a statistical tie with McCain, getting 46 percent to his 45 percent.
After sweeping votes in four states over the weekend, Obama will be on favorable terrain Tuesday in the “Potomac Primary” on Tuesday in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
The region has a large population of African-Americans and a concentration of highly educated voters, both groups with whom Obama performs well. Recent polls showed him ahead in all three primaries.
The Illinois senator also is putting his fundraising advantage to use in more challenging primaries ahead in Texas and Ohio, where Clinton hopes to turn the tide. His campaign announced it was beginning television commercials in both states on Tuesday, three weeks before their March 4 primaries.
Weighing in on Iraq
Both Democrats issued written statements criticizing Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ comments that he favored “a pause” in troop withdrawals from Iraq.
Clinton said she was “very disheartened” by Gates’ comments. Obama opposed any pause in “the long overdue removal of our combat brigades from Iraq.”
In the fall, Clinton said, the Democratic nominee will face the Republican attack “machine,” which she said she already has withstood. “There is very little, if any, new information about me,” she said, adding later: “That’s a huge advantage for me.”
She discounted many of the states Obama has carried in this primary season — such as North Dakota, Alaska, Nebraska and Idaho — as unwinnable for a Democrat in a general election.
Clinton vow: No scandals
Later in the day, in a joint interview with a local ABC affiliate and The Politico, Clinton offered assurances that there won’t be any “personal scandals” involving her husband, Bill, the former president. “None of us can predict the future,” she said of the question about her spouse, “but I’m confident that will not happen.”
Though Obama has not mentioned the scandals of the Clinton administration in campaigning in the region, he spoke of the electoral setbacks Democrats suffered under Bill Clinton at a town meeting in Alexandria, Va., over the weekend.
He argued that he would be better able to help Democrats strengthen their control over Congress. With the former first lady as the party’s candidate, the electoral map of “red states” and “blue states” would not change much, and “even if you win, you don’t have a working majority for change,” Obama said.
Obama said he would reschedule a meeting with former rival John Edwards that was widely reported to be planned for Monday night. Edwards’ house in Chapel Hill, N.C., was staked out by television crews, and one Obama aide cited that as a reason not to meet Monday.
Clinton met in secret with Edwards at his home late last week.
Mike Dorning reported from College Park, Md., and Baltimore and Jim Tankersley from Charlottesville, Va. Tribune correspondent Christi Parsons contributed from Washington.
mdorning@tribune.com
jtankersley@tribune.com
