Obama casts doubt on an N.C. debate

RALEIGH -- Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Thursday that he was disappointed with the "gotcha" tone of his Philadelphia debate with Hillary Rodham Clinton, making a proposed North Carolina debate increasingly unlikely.

In his first appearance since Wednesday night's debate, Obama said Clinton and the ABC moderators competed in trying to stir up controversy rather than discussing issues that voters care about such as health care, gas prices and the war in Iraq.

"They like stirring up controversy, and they like playing gotcha games, getting us to attack each other," Obama told more than 2,000 people at a meeting at the State Fairgrounds. "Senator Clinton looked in her element. She was taking every opportunity to get a dig in there. That's her right to kind of twist the knife a little bit."

He said the Clinton remarks were "a rollout of the Republican campaign against me in November."

Saying one must brush off such attacks, Obama provoked laughter when he used his hands to dust his shoulders and his pants -- as if flicking away dust or mud.

Obama's comments suggest that campaigning for North Carolina's May 6 primary -- which began on a mostly positively note -- may be heading toward the harsher tone that has marked the campaign in other states. Clinton is scheduled to speak tonight at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem.

Obama made his remarks just hours after a grueling debate in which he was often on the defensive, fielding questions about whether he had made condescending comments about blue-collar workers, about his relationship with a controversial pastor and about his ties to a former '60s radical.

While Obama did not rule out a debate proposed for the RBC Center on April 27, he also did not seem enthused, saying that, after 21 debates, he knows all of Clinton's lines.

In an interview, Obama said he would make a decision soon. "The issue is not tactical as much as it is: How do we make sure we reach North Carolinians as effectively as possible?" he said. "We are not going to have a lot of time to campaign. Preparing for debates takes some time. So the question really has to do with what is the most effective way to get out our message."

Despite his criticism of Clinton's "knife twisting," Obama said it was just politics as usual.

"I don't think she has crossed any lines," Obama said during the interview. "I think she has run a pretty conventional Washington campaign. The textbook Washington manual says if you are behind, then you go on the attack."

"She hasn't done anything that I won't confront from Republicans in greater measure should I end up being the Democratic nominee," he added.

Carly Lindaeur, a Clinton campaign spokeswoman, said, "We would ask Senator Obama, if he can't answer the tough questions in the Democratic primary, how he plans to compete and answer those questions in the general election."

After the Raleigh event, Obama traveled to Greenville, where he spoke to an estimated 8,000 people at East Carolina University about gas prices, college costs, the loss of manufacturing jobs and war in Iraq. He spoke for about 35 minutes before he mentioned Clinton, and when he did, it was to address her campaign's criticism of him as an elitist.

The charge came after Obama suggested last week that some voters, bitter over job losses, cling to "guns or religion."

In Greenville, Obama said he stood behind his contention that some American people are angry and bitter. He referred to Clinton's criticism by addressing her, saying, "I wish you had been there to help pay off some of my student loans."

David Carlson, 30, a student at Duke University, and Natalie Small, 23, drove from the Triangle for the rally because they had not been able to see Obama in Raleigh earlier.

Asked whether they were Obama supporters, Small said, "We are now."

Carlson said he particularly liked Obama's vow to make college more affordable. As for Obama's "bitter" comments, Carlson said, "It doesn't bother me in the slightest."

(Staff writer Jerry Allegood contributed to this report.)