Hillary Clinton Campaign Aides Snipe at Barack Obama in Their Bid for Superdelegates

Hillary Clinton's advisers are taking another tack in trying to outmaneuver Barack Obama for support among the nearly 800 superdelegates who may make the ultimate decision on who will be the Democratic presidential nominee.

Day after day, in interviews, E-mails, and conference calls with reporters, Clinton aides argue that Obama is undercutting his message of reconciliation and acting hypocritically by attacking his rival in harsh and unfair terms. Clinton spokesman Phil Singer told reporters yesterday that Obama is using a "wholly negative attack strategy" as he criticizes Clinton's candor and ethics. Harold Ickes, a senior Clinton adviser, said Obama pretends to want Florida and Michigan to be represented at the nominating convention but his campaign is "dragging its feet" and won't support a revote of the disputed primaries in those two states. Ickes told reporters on a conference call yesterday that Clinton will do very well in the next round of primaries and the two candidates will be "within a hair of each other" when the final nominating contest is held in Puerto Rico in June. Ickes predicted that no one will have a majority, and it will be up to the superdelegates to choose a nominee.

—Kenneth T. Walsh