Clinton: Pa. a Must-Win State

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Candidates Campaign in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania voters go to the polls on Tuesday, April 22, for a key presidential primary in the race for the Democratic nomination.

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"Well, I have to win" in Pennsylvania, Clinton said. "I know very well that I'm in a real fight here." She said that "the road to Pennsylvania Avenue goes right through Pennsylvania," adding that Obama has the burden "to prove that he can win a big state, because he hasn't, really, up until now."

Obama replied that "we feel good about how we've chipped away" at Clinton's lead in the state, which an American Research Group poll earlier this month put at 20 percentage points. The latest survey by the same group showed Clinton leading by 13 points.

Asked about her statement in a debate last week that Iran would face "massive retaliation" if it attacked Israel, Clinton said: "Well, the question was if Iran were to launch a nuclear attack on Israel, what would our response be? And I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran" in such a case.

In the event of an Iranian nuclear attack on Israel, "we would be able to totally obliterate them," Clinton said. "That's a terrible thing to say, but those people who run Iran need to understand that, because that perhaps will deter them from doing something that would be reckless, foolish and tragic."

President Bush has accused Iran of secretly planning to build nuclear weapons, a charge the Iranian government denies. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also has declared publicly that "Iran is not a threat to any country" and has "no intention of going to war with any government." Tehran asserts that its nuclear program is intended solely to generate electricity.

Obama said later on the same program that he favors responding "forcefully and swiftly" to any Iranian use of nuclear weapons against "Israel or any of our allies." But he said the hypothetical question "presupposes a failure" to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear arms capability in the first place. "I have consistently said that I will do everything in my power to prevent them from having it, and I have not ruled out military force as an option," he said.

Asked about Clinton's more forceful language, Obama said that "using words like 'obliterate' doesn't actually produce good results, and so I'm not interested in saber rattling." He added: "I think the Iranians can be confident that I will respond forcefully, and it will be completely unacceptable if they attack Israel or any other of our allies in the region, with conventional weapons or nuclear weapons."