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Clinton camp accuses Obama of ‘Ken Starr’ tactics |
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By Sam Youngman
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Posted: 03/06/08 11:20 AM [ET] |
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Just two days after Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) scored two major comeback wins, her camp accused Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) campaign of using “Republican” tactics to stop her momentum. Ann Lewis and Howard Wolfson, top aides to Clinton, held a conference call with reporters in which they said that Obama’s calling on the former first lady to release her tax returns were similar to attacks from the GOP that the Clintons have faced before. “I for one do not believe that imitating Ken Starr is a way to win a Democratic primary for the presidency,” Wolfson said. The Obama campaign promptly reacted. “It is absurd that after weeks of badgering the media to ‘vet’ Senator Obama, the Clinton campaign believes that they should be held to an entirely different standard,” said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. “We don’t believe that expecting candidates for the presidency to disclose their tax returns somehow constitutes Ken Starr-tactics, but the kind of transparency and accountability that Americans are looking for and that’s been missing in Washington for far too long.” Lewis said Obama was turning negative, moving away from his inspirational themes. “I did not realize that his version of new politics is to [use] some of the same old Republican attacks on Hillary that have failed for years,” Lewis said. The Clinton campaign maintains that the senator’s tax returns have been part of the public record for years, and she will release her most recent returns around April 15. |
