Clinton, Obama strike similar chords in Pennsylvania
SWATARA, Pa. -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, brushing aside an umbrella-toting aide, stood in a cold drizzle here Monday to commiserate with truck drivers about rising fuel prices.
A few hours earlier and about 35 miles east, Sen. Barack Obama lamented his less-than-stellar bowling scores before a crowd at a college gym.
The Democratic presidential candidates hit populist notes as they nearly crossed paths campaigning for votes in Pennsylvania's April 22 primary, the next contest in their marathon battle for the nomination.
It was a day that illustrated the dilemmas facing the two candidates as they struggle to best each other while complying with the pleas of Democratic leaders, such as national party Chairman Howard Dean, to avoid personal attacks. On the issues here Monday, Clinton and Obama were virtually indistinguishable.
"We haven't done enough to take care of people who are the real heart and soul of America," Clinton said as she opened up a roundtable discussion at the Capitol Diner in this suburb of Harrisburg. "You feel like the American dream is kind of receding."
Obama expressed a similar sentiment before a rally at Lancaster's Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology. "People on Main Street have been struggling for years now," he said. "It's just nobody heard their cries."
Other similarities between the two candidates:
• Both provided detailed explanations of their plans to expand health care coverage. Both promised to open Congress' health insurance plan to all Americans.
• Both suggested that a portion of the increased fuel costs are due to price gouging. Obama vowed to "go after oil profits." Clinton said she believes some speculators are holding oil off the markets to wait for higher prices.
• Both expressed concern about the loss of manufacturing jobs, a major issue in this Rust Belt state. Obama noted that he opposes the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was enacted before he rose to political office and which the AFL-CIO blames for sending jobs to Mexico. Former president Bill Clinton enacted the deal, but his wife now says she would revise it. "I don't think we can stay a great country and not make things," said Clinton, who promised tax breaks for manufacturers.
