WASHINGTON — The Hillary Rod ham Clinton and Barack Obama camps clashed Thursday in Nevada over two radio ads in an escalating exchange of words that laid bare the stakes involved in Saturday’s presidential caucuses.
The dispute centered on two highly charged issues in the state — a proposed nuclear waste site at Yucca Mountain and access to the caucuses by well-organized casino workers.
A pro-Obama labor ad, airing on Spanish radio stations, calls Clinton “shameless.” It denounces efforts by some Clinton backers to block special precinct caucuses on the Las Vegas Strip for casino workers. A federal judge on Thursday let the special precincts stand.
A Clinton ad cast her as the strongest opponent of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site. The ad quoted a newspaper that referred to Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, as being “hip deep in financial ties” to Chicago-based energy giant Exelon Corp., a nuclear plant operator that supports the Yucca waste site. Obama has said he opposes the site.
Both campaigns mounted aggressive counterattacks, accusing each other of desperate measures two days before voters make their preferences known.
Former Sen. John Edwards, Clinton’s and Obama’s Democratic rival, chastised both camps for their combative tenor. Polls show Obama, Clinton and Edwards in a close race in the state, a key political station on the way to the Jan. 26 primary in South Carolina.
“This looks like the same old nasty divisive politics that both Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton denounced just two days ago,” Edwards told The Associated Press.
The anti-Clinton ad was paid for by Unite Here, the labor group affiliated with the Culinary Workers Union, which backs Obama. He has, however, criticized outside groups that have supported Clinton and Edwards and those campaigns accused him of hypocrisy.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Obama thinks “campaigns should fund themselves and discourages supporters from spending outside the campaign.”
