Clinton Pulls Negative Ad

Clinton Pulls Negative S.C. Ad
By Anne E. Kornblut

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Under fire for airing misleading attacks on Sen. Barack Obama, the Clinton campaign has pulled a radio ad that quoted the Illinois senator calling Republicans "the party of ideas" and suggesting he thought those ideas superior to Democratic ones. But the Obama campaign has already counter-punched, launching a new radio spot saying Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will "say anything" to get elected.

The Clinton campaign did not immediately explain why it had pulled its radio spot, which had triggered a furious response from the Obama campaign and touched off a wave of criticism from Democrats who said the Clinton campaign has grown excessively aggressive in recent days. The Obama ad was no less fierce. It reminded voters that Clinton had voted to authorize the war in Iraq, saying she "voted for George Bush's war," and accused her of making "false attacks" on Obama.

"Hillary Clinton: She'll say anything and change nothing," the ad says.

Clinton tried to rise above the fray, delivering remarks on the economy here. She focused her public statements on President Bush, saying he had failed to confront a slipping economy during most of his presidency. Her aides, meanwhile, are downplaying expectations for how she will do here on Saturday, in the fourth nominating contest. Even though she has campaigned here at length and deployed her husband, described as her most effective surrogate, extensively, her advisers said they expect her to lose.