Obama says Clinton should keep running

updated 5:10 a.m. ET March 30, 2008

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. - Barack Obama refused Saturday to go along with other Democrats who are calling for Hillary Rodham Clinton to step away from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

“My attitude is Senator Clinton can run as long as she wants,” Obama said.

Obama told reporters he did not agree with one of his supporters, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, when he said earlier this week that Clinton cannot win the nomination and should therefore drop out. “I hadn’t talked to Pat about it,” Obama said.

Clinton pushes back
At stops throughout the day, Clinton raised the question of whether she should leave the race — eliciting loud jeers from supporters.

“There are some people who say we should just stop these elections. ‘Enough people have already voted, what’s a few million more?”’ Clinton said in Louisville, Ky. “I don’t know about you but I’m glad Kentucky is going to be voting and you’ll be choosing because it’s such an important election.” The state holds its primary May 20.

Campaigning in Pennsylvania, her husband, Bill Clinton, said party insiders looking to resolve the contest should step back and allow the process to move forward.

“We just need to relax and let this happen. Nobody’s talking about wrecking the party,” the former president said. “Everywhere I go, all these working people say: ‘Don’t you dare let her drop out. Don’t listen to those people in Washington, they don’t represent us.”’

The campaign on Saturday released a fundraising e-mail, signed by Bill Clinton, asking supporters to challenge talk of his wife departing the race by sending a check to her campaign.

“There’s no better way to tell Hillary that you support her staying in than to make a contribution to her campaign,” he wrote.

Tough love for Pa.
Obama offered a bit of tough love to Pennsylvania voters, saying some industrial and manufacturing jobs may not return to this steel region, but others could take their place.

Clinton also stressed job creation at campaign stops in Indiana and Kentucky, vowing to help manufacturers transition to new industries like clean energy and ending tax breaks for American companies that ship jobs overseas.

“I think this election, particularly here in Indiana, is about jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs,” the former first lady said.

Jobs and the economy are front and center in the remaining primary contests between the two Democratic hopefuls. Pennsylvania, which holds its primary April 22, has seen its manufacturing base and especially its steel industry weakened in recent decades, as has Indiana, which votes May 6.

While campaigning in Ohio, another big manufacturing state, both Clinton and Obama criticized free trade deals and insisted the other candidate was not as reliable a protector of U.S. jobs. Clinton won that state’s March 4 primary.

In Johnstown, a woman employed at a call center told Obama that 200 of her co-workers had lost jobs after the work was outsourced to India. She blamed free trade and asked what the Illinois senator would do about it.

“I don’t want to make a promise that I can bring back every job that’s left Johnstown. It’s just not true. Some of those jobs aren’t going to come back,” Obama answered.

“What I can do is try ... to create an environment in which jobs are being created,” he said, adding that they “may not be the same jobs that left and don’t come back.”

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