Clinton touts toughness before Pennsylvania vote

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Pushing for a strong win to keepher White House hopes alive, Democrat Hillary Clinton toutedher toughness on Monday on the eve of a showdown withpresidential rival Barack Obama in Pennsylvania.

Clinton, favoured to win Tuesday's contest, needs a bigvictory margin to boost her chances of catching Obama in theDemocratic race and to head off renewed calls to end hercandidacy.

Joined by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, anddaughter, Chelsea, the New York senator made a final appeal forvotes at a rally in a packed arena in Philadelphia.

"I believe with all my heart that it is our moment, it isthe time for the people of Pennsylvania to determine not justwho the Democratic nominee will be, but who the president willbe and what the future course of America will be," she said.

Clinton and Obama are duelling for the Democraticnomination to face Republican John McCain in November'spresidential election. Both candidates spent the day scouringPennsylvania in a late hunt for support.

Voting in the state ends at 8 p.m. EDT (1 a.m. Britishtime) with first results available soon afterward.

Clinton launched a television ad stressing her ability tohandle "the toughest job in the world" and featuring images ofal Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and damage from HurricaneKatrina.

"You need to be ready for anything -- especially now, withtwo wars, oil prices skyrocketing and an economy in crisis,"the ad's narrator says, throwing in a reference to a famoussaying by former Democratic President Harry Truman.

"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen," thenarrator says. "Who do you think has what it takes?"

Clinton has questioned whether Obama, a first-term Illinoissenator, has the experience to be commander in chief. Obamacampaign spokesman Bill Burton noted the bin Laden imagery inthe ad.

"It's ironic that she would borrow the president's tacticsin her own campaign and invoke bin Laden to score politicalpoints," he said. "We already have a president who plays thepolitics of fear, and we don't need another."

After several days of sharp attacks on Clinton, Obama beganthe final day focused on pocketbook issues such as the cost ofgasoline, taxes and jobs.

"We've had a terrific contest between myself and SenatorClinton and the other candidates who were originally involved,"Obama told a forum with middle-class voters in the town of BlueBell outside of Philadelphia.

"Democrats are pretty unified around some ideas," Obamasaid, citing the desire to provide universal health care andtackle global warming.

PLAYING DOWN EXPECTATIONS

Both camps tried to play down expectations in Pennsylvania,where Clinton's once double-digit lead has dwindled to singledigits in many polls as Obama has outspent her heavily.

"I think it's going to be pretty close and we'recampaigning hard," Obama said.

Obama told a rally in McKeesport, near Pittsburgh it was itwas unfair for the media to question him about his patriotismas happened during an ABC news debate last week when he wasasked whether he believed in the American flag and why he didnot always wear a flag pin on his lapel.

"It frustrates me that people would even have a questionabout something like that because they don't ask the samequestions of some of the other candidates," he said. "Thatconcerns me."

Obama leads Clinton in delegates to the August conventionin Denver, but neither can clinch the nomination without thehelp of superdelegates -- nearly 800 party insiders who arefree to support either candidate.

Obama also picked up an endorsement from fiery filmmakerMichael Moore, who made he anti-Bush documentary "Fahrenheit911."

"What we are witnessing is not just a candidate but aprofound, massive public movement for change. My endorsement ismore for Obama The Movement than it is for Obama thecandidate," Moore wrote in a letter posted on his Web site.

Clinton hopes a big win in Pennsylvania and a strong runthrough the nine remaining Democratic contests will convincesuperdelegates she is the candidate who can capture the bigstates crucial to a November election victory.

Clinton has resisted calls from Obama supporters to pullout of the race and let him focus on the election battleagainst McCain.

McCain launched a five-day tour of economically strugglingareas rarely visited by Republicans. He opened in Selma,Alabama, at a landmark of the U.S. civil rights movement -- thebridge where state police attacked more than 500 civil rightsdemonstrators in 1965 on a day known as "Bloody Sunday."

McCain's trip also will take him to the hard-hit steel townof Youngstown, Ohio, the Appalachia region of Kentucky andhurricane-stricken New Orleans.

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Caren Bohan andJeff Mason;writing by John Whitesides, editing by Chris Wilson)

(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visitReuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online athttp:/blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)