Obama Is Victorious in Mississippi

"We have been very firm in dealing with that," Axelrod maintained. "They have not."

Obama's campaign also launched an offensive against Clinton's claims of a depth of foreign policy experience, using a top aide to Bill Clinton to lead the charge. In a memo titled "Senator Clinton's claim to be experienced in foreign policy: Just words?" adviser Greg Craig, a former State Department official, called Clinton's assertions that she played a role in the Northern Ireland peace process and helped negotiate open borders as part of the Kosovo crisis "exaggerated claims."

"When your entire campaign is based upon a claim of experience, it is important that you have evidence to support that claim," the memo stated. "Hillary Clinton's argument that she has passed 'the Commander-in-Chief test' is simply not supported by her record."

The Clinton campaign responded quickly, calling the Craig dossier a "false attack memo," though acknowledging that Obama had at last "come out swinging" after one of the bumpiest weeks of his campaign.

But Ferraro's comments dominated the day.

"I don't think Geraldine Ferraro's comments have any place in our politics or in the Democratic Party," Obama told Pennsylvania's Allentown Morning Call yesterday.

"I think anybody who understands the history of this country knows they are patently absurd. And I would expect that the same way those comments don't have a place in my campaign they shouldn't have a place in Senator Clinton's either."

Clinton denounced Ferraro's comments in an interview with the Associated Press.

"It is regrettable that any of our supporters on both sides, because we've both had that experience, say things that kind of veer off into the personal," the senator from New York said. "We ought to keep this on the issues. There are differences between us. There are differences between our approaches on health care, on energy, on our experience, on our results that we've produced for people. That's what this campaign should be about."

That did not quiet the Obama team, which continued to demand a more forceful condemnation of Ferraro's comments. By the end of the day, Clinton's campaign manager issued a statement calling on the Obama team to stand down.

"Supporters from both campaigns will get overzealous," Williams wrote, noting that Clinton had distanced herself from Ferraro but that the Obama campaign continued to raise the issue. "We reject these false, personal and politically calculated attacks on the eve of a primary."

Later, it was Williams rather than Clinton who acknowledged Obama's victory.

"We congratulate Senator Obama for his win in Mississippi and thank our supporters and volunteers there for their support, hard work, and long hours," she said in a statement issued by the campaign. "Now we look forward to campaigning in Pennsylvania and around the country as this campaign continues."

Slevin reported from the Obama campaign. Perry Bacon Jr. contributed to this report.