US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) addresses the audience at the Allegheny County Democratic Committee's Jefferson/Jackson Dinner at Heinz Field, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania April 10 2008. (REUTERS/David DeNoma)
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Democrat Hillary Clinton criticized presidential rival Barack Obama on Friday for describing small-town Pennsylvania residents as bitter and said she would help economically struggling communities, not look down on them.
Clinton, whose big Pennsylvania lead over Obama in opinion polls has been shrinking before their April 22 primary election showdown, said residents in small towns suffering from job losses across the state were resilient and optimistic.
"Pennsylvania doesn't need a president who looks down on them," she said at a rally in Philadelphia. "They need a president who stands up for them, who fights for them, who works hard for your futures, your jobs, your families."
Obama, an Illinois senator, told a crowd in San Francisco this week he understood why residents of towns hard hit by manufacturing job losses would feel bitter.
"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," Obama was quoted as saying by the Huffington Post.
"And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
At a town hall meeting on Friday, Obama said he made the comment because some supporters heard he was having trouble attracting working-class voters. He was trying to say he empathized with them.
Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, once led Obama by double digits in Pennsylvania, the next battleground in their bruising battle for the Democratic nomination to face Republican John McCain in November's presidential election.
That lead has slowly dwindled to about 4 to 6 points in recent polls. Clinton's biggest backers in Pennsylvania have been blue-collar voters, but the state has sustained job losses.
A loss in Pennsylvania would almost surely doom Clinton's uphill race to catch Obama, who leads in delegates who will select the nominee at the August convention.
The McCain campaign also criticized Obama for the comments, saying that "it shows an elitism and condescension towards hard-working Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking."
'I'M IN TOUCH'
In Indiana, Obama bristled at the suggestion he did not understand voters' concerns.
"Out of touch? Out of touch? I mean, John McCain -- it took him three tries to finally figure out that the home foreclosure crisis was a problem and to come up with a plan for it, and he's saying I'm out of touch?" Obama said.
"Senator Clinton voted for a credit card-sponsored bankruptcy bill that made it harder for people to get out of debt after taking money from the financial services companies, and she says I'm out of touch?" he told a crowd in Terre Haute, Indiana. "No, I'm in touch. I know exactly what's going on. ... People are fed up. They're angry and they're frustrated and they're bitter."
Clinton, whose father was from Pennsylvania, said in Philadelphia she had a lot of affection for the state and enjoyed traveling through it.
"It's being reported that my opponent said that the people of Pennsylvania who faced hard times are bitter. Well, that's not my experience," she said.
"As I travel around Pennsylvania, I meet people who are resilient, who are optimistic, who are positive, who are rolling up their sleeves. They are working hard everyday for a better future, for themselves and their children," she said.
(Editing by Peter Cooney)
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