Feb 9, 2008 9:00 pm US/Eastern
Clinton, Obama Try To Woo Virginia Voters
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) ―
Relishing a clean sweep Saturday night, Barack Obama appealed to Virginia Democrats to help him turn the page away from the "same old Washington games with the same old Washington players," an indictment meant for rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican Sen. John McCain.
Obama addressed about 4,000 Democratic officials and activists at the state party's annual Jefferson-Jackson fundraising dinner, taking the stage fresh from victories Saturday night in Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington state and the Virgin Islands. Clinton addressed the crowd before he arrived, the gala a can't-miss stop in a short, intense campaign for a trio of contests Tuesday in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Obama exulted in his wins while only mentioning them briefly, saying his victories from the West Coast to the Gulf Coast and in the heartland were a rousing "yes we can" from voters fed up with divisive politics and failed policies. And like Clinton before him on the stage, he painted McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee, as more of the same from the party of President Bush.
"He has made the decision to embrace the failed policies of George Bush's Washington," the Illinois senator said of McCain. "He speaks of a hundred-year war in Iraq and sees another on the horizon with Iran."
The New York senator made no reference to her losses or the Louisiana primary that was still unsettled when she spoke. She left the dinner immediately after her remarks, ensuring no overlap with Obama, who was still on his way.
The crowd greeted her enthusiastically but was largely supportive of her rival. Chants of "Obama" rang through the hall as she made her way offstage.
The Clinton campaign said 100,000 donors had given $10 million since Super Tuesday, the money-sapping mega-contest that left Obama and Clinton close to a tie in delegates won. After Tuesday, Clinton acknowledged lending her campaign $5 million of her own money -- a disclosure that seemed to help open the money taps from supporters to try to counter Obama's fundraising prowess.
Clinton spent most of Saturday campaigning in Maine for the state's nominating caucuses Sunday; Obama stumped in the state, too. Clinton's prospects in the D.C.-area primaries were uncertain, because of high numbers of black voters and highly educated voters -- groups that have favored her rival. She planned to fly Tuesday night to Texas, where she hoped to perform well in the state's March 4 primary.
Before she arrived at the spirited Richmond dinner, Obama supporters in the crowd waved placards and chanted the stump-speech line that has become a slogan -- "Yes we can" -- while Clinton supporters roared back "Hill-a-ry."
Clinton brought both camps to their feet when she blistered the Bush administration and, by inference, a likely Republican nominee she had no problem branding a conservative -- even if he's struggling to sell that label to his party's right.
"We have tried it President Bush's way," she said, and now "the Republicans have chosen more of the same."
"President Bush has already put his stamp of approval on Senator McCain's conservative credentials," she said, adding wryly, "and I'm sure that will help." The line won cheers and laughs. Bush has nudged his party to unite but not explicitly endorsed McCain.
The Arizona senator lost the Kansas caucuses Saturday against long-shot rival Mike Huckabee, who draws support from conservatives.
Clinton described Bush's way as "hoard power, disregard science, shred the Constitution, smear dissenters, impugn patriots, go it alone in the world wherever you can and cooperate only when you have to."
She told the audience: "You know, for me, politics isn't a game. It's not about who's up or who's down. It's about your lives, your families and your futures. And isn't it about time you had a president who brought your voice and your values to your White House?"
Former president Bill Clinton campaigned vigorously for his wife in Virginia, but his rhetoric was restrained after all the criticism he took earlier in the campaign for remarks about Obama that raised racial sensitivities, including one suggesting Obama's opposition to the Iraq war was a fairy tale.
Former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, the nation's first elected black governor, an Obama backer and Richmond's mayor, took a swipe at Bill Clinton during a news conference Saturday. "Barack Obama is not a fairy tale," Wilder said. "He is real."
Of Bill Clinton, Wilder said: "A time comes and a time goes. The president has had his time." Clinton and Obama are competing in the Maine caucuses Sunday.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
