In back-to-back speeches Saturday before thousands of Iowa Democrats, Senator Barack Obama pointedly suggested that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was running a “poll-driven campaign” out of fear of what Republicans might say about her in a general election reports the International Herald Tribune.
Clinton suggested that Obama did not have the credentials or the experience to bring about the change he was promising.
The dueling exchange between the two presidential contenders offered an intense conclusion to a Democratic dinner here, nearly eclipsing a long night of speeches by other presidential candidates that focused largely on attacking President George W. Bush and the Republicans seeking to succeed him.
“I watch the Republican candidates — Giuliani, Romney, McCain — and I what I see is George Bush on steroids,” said John Edwards of North Carolina, who has been waging a strong campaign in this state, whose caucuses begin the nominating contest on Jan. 3.
Neither Clinton nor Obama mentioned the other by name. But given the recent tenor of the campaign, the subtext of their remarks was apparent to thousands of Iowans who either sat in rapt attention or responded in extravagantly orchestrated displays of cheers, signs and chants, in keeping with the tradition of the annual Jefferson Jackson dinner here.
Read it here: Clinton and Obama duel before Iowa Democrats