Obama rails at 'distractions'

PHILADELPHIA DEBATE | Hillary turns up the heat as Illinois senator beats back questions on 'bitter' comment, Wright and former radical Ayers

Instead of Iraq and taxes and jobs, which he said he wanted to talk about, White House hopeful Barack Obama had to spend much of Wednesday night's debate explaining his gaffe about "bitter" small-town people clinging to guns and religion, his former pastor's racially charged comments and his friendship with former radical activist Bill Ayers.

Obama kept complaining that those issues were "distractions" from the real issues. Hillary Clinton, who leads Obama in the polls in Pennsylvania in advance of Tuesday's primary election, kept up the heat on Obama, saying Republican John McCain will use Obama's gaffes and inconvenient friends against him if he's the nominee.

Both candidates, when pressed, admitted they thought the other could beat McCain. Neither accepted an invitation to say they'd consider the other for vice president. Both said they would bring the troops home from Iraq no matter what the generals say. Clinton committed not to raise taxes on people making less than $250,000. Obama made the same pledge for people under $200,000.

Asked how he justified his friendship with Ayers, an accepted member of liberal society in Chicago but a former member of the Weather Underground, Obama, said, "This is an example of what I'm talking about. This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago, who I know, and who I have not received some official endorsement from."

He told questioner George Stephanopolous, "The notion that somehow, as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago when I was 8 years old somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn't make much sense."

Clinton noted that Obama continued to serve on a board with Ayers even after he was quoted in the New York Times on Sept. 11, 2001, saying he did not regret setting bombs but was "sorry we had not done more," which Clinton said was "deeply hurtful" to New Yorkers.

"I know Sen. Obama's a good man and I respect him greatly but this is an issue certainly Republicans will be raising. It goes to this larger set of concerns about how we are going to run against John McCain," Clinton said.

Prompting laughter, she added, "I wish the Republicans would apologize for the disaster of the Bush-Cheney years and not run anybody -- just say, 'It's time for the Democrats to return to the White House. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be willing to do that."