By Claudia Parsons
PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (Reuters) - Democraticpresidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obamasharpened their attacks on each other on Sunday, trading barbsover health care, trade and experience as they head for keyshowdowns in Texas and Ohio on March 4.
As Obama tried to nail down the Democratic nomination bywinning those two states and Clinton battled to say alive, afamiliar face joined the presidential race. Consumer advocateRalph Nader, blamed by many Democrats for their 2000 WhiteHouse loss, said he would run again as an independent.
Clinton, who trails Illinois Sen. Obama in delegates tothis summer's national convention that will pick the Democraticcandidate for the November election, needs wins in both statesto keep her campaign afloat.
Clinton mocked Obama's speeches in which he emphasizes hopeand promises change, telling supporters the problems facing thenext president would not be easily solved.
"I could just stand up here and say 'Let's just geteverybody together, let's get unified.' The sky will open, thelight will come down, celestial choirs will be singing andeveryone will know we should do the right thing and the worldwill be perfect," she said at a rally in Providence, RhodeIsland.
Obama fired back in Lorain, Ohio, criticizing the New Yorksenator for changing her position on the North American FreeTrade Agreement pushed through by her husband, former PresidentBill Clinton.
"She has essentially presented herself as co-presidentduring the Clinton years," he said. "So the notion that you canselectively pick what you take credit for and then run awayfrom what isn't politically convenient, that doesn't makesense."
With the economy a key issue in the U.S. presidential race,Obama has turned trade into a centrepiece of his campaign inOhio, where trade agreements are particularly unpopular asdomestic manufacturing jobs disappear.
The former first lady, who would be the first woman U.S.president, resumed her attacks on Obama over some campaignleaflets he circulated in Ohio criticizing her health care planand past support for NAFTA.
"Nobody believes Senator Obama's plan is universal becauseit's not. Mine is," she said in Rhode Island, which also voteson March 4. "So raise legitimate questions but don't engage in,you know, this kind of false and misleading advertising."
NADER DISMISSED
Democrats dismissed the announcement of Nader's candidacy.
Nader, who turns 74 this week, ran as an independent in2004. He was the Green Party nominee in 2000 when he won about2.7 percent of the votes nationwide, but enough in Florida toplay a part in Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore's lossof that state and the White House.
Nader called Washington "corporate occupied territory" thatturns the government against the interests of the people. "Inthat context, I have decided to run for president," he said.
Clinton called Nader's decision "a passing fancy" and saidhe had "prevented Al Gore from being the greatest president wecould have had and I think that's really unfortunate."
Virginia's Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine told "Fox News Sunday:"I wouldn't see it having any effect on the race."
Obama, who has won 10 straight Democratic state contests,hopes to knock off Clinton in either Ohio or Texas, where sheonce held big leads. The two face off in their last scheduleddebate on Tuesday in Ohio.
In the Republican race, reaction to a New York Timesarticle last week continued to reverberate. The Times hinted atthe possibility that presidential front-runner John McCain washaving a romantic affair in 1999 with a female lobbyist 31years his junior.
McCain, the Arizona senator who has all but clinched theRepublican nomination, has said the story was untrue.
Conservatives railed at the Times for trying to smearMcCain with a story based on unidentified sources. On Sunday,they were joined by the Times' own public editor.
"If a newspaper is going to suggest an improper sexualaffair ... it owes readers more proof than The Times was ableto provide," wrote Clark Hoyt, who writes a weekly critique.
(Writing by David Wiessler and Joanne Allen; Additionalreporting by Jeff Mason and Donna Smith; Editing by ChrisWilson and Jackie Frank)
(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visitReuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online athttp://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)
