Hillary Clinton is waving her fists across Indiana, signing autographs on boxing gloves.
"We need a president who's a fighter again," Clinton said at a rally last week, adding that the next president must understand what it is like to "get knocked down and get back up. That's the story of America, right?"
In recent days, Clinton has chided Barack Obama for his inability to "close the deal," and declared that no one was going to make her quit. "She makes Rocky Balboa look like a pansy," North Carolina's governor, Michael F. Easley, said in endorsing her.
This kind of language and pugilistic imagery, however, also evokes the baggage that makes Clinton a provocative political figure. Just as supporters praise her "toughness" and "tenacity," critics also describe her as "divisive," "a dirty fighter," or "willing to do anything to win."
"She has learned how to be ruthless," said Robert B. Reich, an Obama supporter who served as President Clinton's secretary of labor. "I doubt that it came to her naturally, but she has learned."
While Clinton is casting herself as a warrior for ordinary Americans who need jobs and healthcare and cheaper gasoline, she is also establishing a contrast with her opponent, suggesting that he is an untested lightweight.
When asked if the fighting motif could go too far, Clinton acknowledged that it could, but then quickly contrasted her aggressive style with Obama's. His campaign "has been about creating an atmosphere," she said. "I've never understood that. Because it's not easy. I've been in a lot of these fights."
THE
Obama's handling of pastor is given good marks in poll
Most voters think Barack Obama has done a good job handling the controversy surrounding his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, according to a poll released yesterday.
In a CBS News/New York Times poll, 60 percent of voters - and 68 percent of Democratic primary voters - said they approved of the way Obama handled the situation.
At a press conference in Washington April 28, Wright praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and reiterated his beliefs that the US government may have developed the AIDS virus to infect the black community and that it had invited the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Obama denounced the remarks the next day.
Three-quarters of voters polled from May 1-3 said Wright's statements had not changed their opinion of Obama.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Delegate math continues to favor Illinois senator
Barack Obama has hit a rough patch in voting over the past month, and the Clinton campaign is sensing an opening after her strong win in Pennsylvania nearly two weeks ago. Still, the delegate math works in Obama's favor, and it will be difficult for Clinton to overtake him.
After this weekend's Democratic caucuses in Guam, Obama continues to hold the lead in convention delegates.
Obama won the Guam contest by seven votes, meaning that he and Clinton will split the territory's four pledged delegates. The Illinois senator now has a total of 1,742.5 pledged delegates to 1,607.5 for Clinton, according to an Associated Press count.
Yesterday, Clinton repeated that she has no intention of dropping out, saying on ABC's "This Week": "When the process finishes in early June, people can look at all the various factors and decide who would be the strongest candidate" to go up against Republican John McCain in the fall.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
