Obama gains ground on Clinton in Ohio

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama gained ground against rival Hillary Clinton in the battleground U.S. state of Ohio on Monday as their race took a negative turn.

With a week to go until a potentially pivotal vote in Ohio and Texas on March 4, a Quinnipiac University poll said Clinton leads Obama in Ohio by 51 percent to 40 percent among likely Democratic voters.

This was a narrowing from 55 percent to 34 percent lead she held less than two weeks ago, and was a sign that Obama's momentum was paying dividends in Ohio.

New York Sen. Clinton needs big victories in Ohio and Texas to salvage her campaign to be the Democratic nominee in the November election after losing 11 straight contests to Obama, a first-term Illinois senator.

She was to give a foreign policy speech in Washington on Monday.

Independent Ralph Nader, 74, defended his decision to make a late entry into the presidential race. Nader was blamed by many Democrats for taking votes away from Vice President Al Gore in Florida in 2000, helping Republican George W. Bush win the presidency.

"I think the two parties have spoiled our electoral and political system," he told CBS.

Clinton's aura of inevitability has been shattered in recent weeks by her string of losses, and the talk of Washington was whether she would be able to remain a viable candidate if she registers more losses on March 4.

Robert Novak, a conservative who is a syndicated columnist published in The Washington Post, wrote on Monday that Democratic Party elders were asking: "Who will tell her that it's over, that she cannot win the presidential nomination and that the sooner she leaves the race, the more it will improve the party's chances of defeating (Republican) Sen. John McCain in November?"

Clinton, after a fairly civil debate with Obama last Thursday in Texas during which she said she was honored to share the stage with him, has spent the last couple of days complaining about Obama's tendency to deliver speeches long on hope and short on substantive details.

"I could just stand up here and say 'Let's just get everybody together, let's get unified.' The sky will open, the light will come down, celestial choirs will be singing and everyone will know we should do the right thing and the world will be perfect," she said at a rally on Sunday in Providence, Rhode Island, which also votes on March 4.

A photograph of Obama, dressed as a Somali elder with white headdress and matching robe, created a stir when it was posted on the popular Drudge Report web site on Monday and the accompanying article said it had been circulated by Clinton campaign staffers.

The Obama campaign was incensed.

The Drudge Report said the photo was taken in 2006 and shows the Democratic front-runner fitted as a Somali Elder, during his visit to Wajir, a rural area in northeastern Kenya. Obama has fought a whispering campaign from fringe elements that say erroneously he is a Muslim.

"On the very day that Senator Clinton is giving a speech about restoring respect for America in the world, her campaign has engaged in the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we've seen from either party in this election," said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe.

Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams said in a statement: "Enough."

"If Barack Obama's campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely," Williams said.

She called the flap "nothing more than an obvious and transparent attempt to distract from the serious issues confronting our country today and to attempt to create the very divisions they claim to decry."

(Editing by David Wiessler)