MUNSTER, Ind. — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called for a vote Friday in the Democratic-controlled Congress on a summertime suspension of the federal gasoline tax, a plan that Sen. Barack Obama dismissed as a political stunt that would cost thousands of construction jobs.
“It’s a Shell game. Literally,” Obama said to laughter from his campaign audience, adding it would mean little for hard-pressed consumers.
“All I hear about is gas prices. Gas and diesel, everywhere,” Clinton said in Kinston, N.C. “Some people say we don’t need to get a gas-tax holiday at all, it’s a gimmick. . . . I want the Congress to stand up and vote. Are they for the oil companies, or are they for you?”
The Democratic presidential rivals highlighted their differences in ads and speeches across North Carolina and Indiana, two states with primaries Tuesday. Polls point toward a particularly close finish in Indiana, which is next door to Obama’s home state of Illinois.
Surveys show him with a dwindling advantage in North Carolina, and Clinton decided to spend all of Friday and Saturday in the state before returning to Indiana for a final push. Both candidates were addressing a fundraiser for the North Carolina Democratic Party on Friday night.
The two primaries have 187 national convention delegates at stake. Clinton picked up the support Friday of Democratic National Committee member Jaime A. Gonzalez Jr., a Texas superdelegate, and two pledged delegates from last week’s Pennsylvania primary.
