The Trail

Obama has repeatedly declared that most debates have offered little new information, particularly since the two Democrats share similar policy views.

-- Perry Bacon Jr.

SOFTENING HIS TONE

Obama Eases Up on Clinton, Targets McCain

ANDERSON, Ind. -- When Barack Obama headed to Indiana and North Carolina after his loss in Pennsylvania, the question loomed: Would he continue ramping up the tough tone against Hillary Clinton that he flashed in the final days before last Tuesday's vote?

Judging from several days on the trail in Indiana, the answer so far appears to be no. In his Hoosier stump speech, Obama has returned to training most of his fire on Sen. John McCain and Republican governance of the past seven years, only secondarily going on to explain why he would be a better Democratic nominee than Clinton.

His sharpest words in Clinton's direction did not mention her by name and decried the "ticky-tack" nature of the primary campaign.

"If you watched the last few weeks of campaign, you'd think all politics is about is negative ads and bickering and arguing and gaffes and sideline issues," he in this struggling manufacturing town.

"There's no serious discussion about how we're actually going to bring jobs back to Anderson, that's not what's being debated. That's the politics we've gotten used to over the last 20 years, and I'm tired of that politics because it doesn't solve problems. One of the things we've got to do is bring this country together and stop being distracted by back-and-forth ticky-tack."

In each Indiana town he stops in, Obama is introduced by a resident who symbolizes the tough economic times. The candidate lists statistics specific to the town, describing job losses and income stagnation since 2000. This leads to his indictment of the Bush administration and, by association, McCain.

Both in Anderson and in a previous town hall meeting in Marion, he said he is a better choice for the nomination because he would be better positioned than Clinton to overhaul a stalled Washington system. And he criticized her at both stops for voting for a bankruptcy-reform bill backed by the credit card industry.

But when given an opening by a voter here to criticize her campaign's comments defending the Veterans Affairs health system, Obama passed.

"Senator Clinton has differences with me, and I have differences with her," he said. "I just have to remind everyone that those differences pale in comparison with the differences we have with George W. Bush and John McCain."

-- Alec MacGillis