Obama Pledges to Return to Message, Avoid Negative Campaigning

By Kristin Jensen and Karen Leigh

April 28 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, attempting to regain his momentum after losing the Pennsylvania primary, promised to shun negative campaigning as his race drags on against Hillary Clinton.

Obama, 46, an Illinois senator, began his drive for the nomination with a message of unity and the pledge that he wouldn't run a typical political campaign. Today, Obama said he realized his campaign had strayed in recent weeks.

``I told this to my team, you know, we are starting to sound like other folks, we are starting to run the same negative stuff,'' Obama told a crowd of about 5,000 in Wilmington, North Carolina. ``It shows that none of us are immune from this kind of politics. But the problem is that it doesn't help you.''

Obama and Clinton are campaigning in North Carolina today ahead of the state's May 6 primary. Indiana voters also go to the polls that day, and Obama said he expects to win both contests. While he continues to lead Clinton in delegates needed for the nomination, the next round of voting has taken on renewed importance since his April 22 loss to Clinton in Pennsylvania.

During the 1 1/2 hour town hall, Obama adopted a relaxed pose, shirt sleeves rolled up and a hand in one pocket for much of the time. He addressed concerns by some Democrats that the prolonged race would hurt the party in November, saying he had no doubt that the party would be united.

`Why I'm Running'

``I didn't get in this race to run against Senator Clinton,'' Obama said. ``I ran to run against unemployment, I ran to run against lack of educational opportunity, I ran to run against lack of health care and substandard housing and a war that we should not have fought. That's why I'm running.''

Obama got encouragement from Jean Weiss, 82, a Wilmington resident who told him not to go after Clinton and instead to ``bring us up higher.''

The first-term U.S. senator didn't address the renewed controversy over his longtime pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who today said the furor over his past sermons stems from ignorance on the part of most Americans about the ``invisible'' black church.

Portions of Wright's past sermons have gotten wide circulation on television and the Internet and have been used against Obama in some Republican campaign commercials. Obama disavowed Wright's statements in a speech last month, saying they represented a ``profoundly distorted view'' of the nation.

Differences With McCain

Both Obama and Clinton today emphasized their differences with presumed Republican nominee John McCain. Obama said he considers McCain, a former prisoner of war, a ``hero'' yet said, ``I differ with him profoundly when it comes to identifying what the country needs right now.''

Clinton criticized McCain and Obama as she proposed a windfall profits tax on oil companies to pay for a suspension of the federal tax on gasoline.

Clinton said the money from taxing oil-company profits ``would help to pay for what we need to do to continue to repair and modernize and rebuild our roads,'' while a moratorium on fuel-tax collections ``would give people during the peak driving months of the summer some temporary relief.''

She noted that Obama opposes suspending the 18.4 cents a gallon federal levy on gasoline and McCain, who proposed shelving the tax during the summer driving season, would use general revenue to replace money lost from the highway fund.

``That's a mistake,'' she said.

Job Losses

The economy, with the loss of a quarter-million jobs so far this year, has moved to the forefront of the presidential campaign as rising fuel costs add to pressure on consumers. The national average price of a gallon of gasoline is $3.60, up 66 cents since last year, and diesel prices average $4.24 a gallon, up from $2.92 a year ago, according to a survey by AAA.

Suspending fuel taxes would require congressional action before lawmakers take their summer recess, and previous attempts to pass a tax moratorium have failed.

McCain, 71, an Arizona senator, proposed in an April 15 economic speech a ``gas-tax holiday,'' from the May 26 Memorial Day holiday to Labor Day, which falls on Sept. 1. He also would lift the 24.4 cents a gallon tax on diesel fuel.

Obama says a fuel-tax moratorium would take money away from highway and bridge construction that the U.S. needs to spend while saving most people about $25 over the summer.

A group of truckers brought a caravan of vehicles to Washington today to protest high diesel prices. They drove through the city and planned a rally the Capitol, the Associated Press reported.

Clinton is seeking to halt Obama's momentum in the Democratic presidential contest. He leads her with 1,724 of the delegates who will decide the nomination. Clinton has 1,593, according to an unofficial count by the Associated Press.

The most recent polls in North Carolina show Obama ahead in the state, while the last survey in Indiana gives Clinton a lead there. The two are tied nationally in the Gallup Organization's daily tracking poll.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kristin Jensen traveling with the Obama campaign at 1823 or kjensen@bloomberg.net ; Karen Leigh in Graham, North Carolina, at kleigh@bloomberg.net .

Last Updated: April 28, 2008 16:33 EDT

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