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INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana: Attacks sharpened and political pandering
stretched gullibility as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton battled
exhaustion and one another ahead of Tuesday’s crucial White House
primaries.
The rivals rushed between North Carolina, on the
eastern seaboard, and midwestern Indiana, two late-voting states
getting an unusual chance to help pick a presidential nominee in the
seemingly endless Democratic race.
Obama was up before dawn broke over Indiana
Monday, chatting with builders in hard hats at a construction
site, trying to show Clinton she will not have her working-class
bastion to herself.
A man of reputedly refined culinary tastes,
Obama also took pains to show he doesn’t turn up his nose at the
food of the masses. Dropping into a haunt for union workers, Obama,
who is trim and fit, headed straight for a grease-soaked breakfast
spread.
“I’ve been losing weight on this campaign, I
hope there are some biscuits and grits,” he said before
demolishing a plate of sausage and scrambled eggs.
Clinton, despite only four hours of sleep in her
North Carolina hotel, was in top form during the campaign’s 6 a.m.
strategy call, aides said.
She then punched out a string of television
interviews, her confidence belying her underdog status.
By mid-morning, with one swift rally already in
the bag, she turned up at a picturesque North Carolina railroad
station, prompting state governor Mike Easley to memorably claim
she was as “strong as train smoke.”
Like Obama, Clinton long ago concluded that the
way to a person’s vote might lie through their stomach.
“We have eaten barbecue from one end of this
state to the other,” she said, adding that she hoped husband and
former President Bill Clinton’s cardiologist wasn’t listening.
A whistle then split the air as a freight train
rumbled through.
But in keeping with a campaign once headed for
the buffers, which now seems to be gathering steam, Clinton riffed a
quick punch line to avoid being drowned out.
-- AFP
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