Obama nixes talk of joint ticket

JACKSON, Miss. — Sen. Barack Obama yesterday charged that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is trying to “hoodwink” voters by calling him inexperienced and questioning his qualifications to be commander in chief, while hinting they might share a ticket.

“If I’m not ready, how is it that you think I should be such a great vice president?” Mr. Obama said, to resounding response from the packed auditorium he spoke to in Columbus, Miss.

Democratic voters here head to the polls today to choose between the two, and although some say they would salivate with such a “dream ticket,” they also shouted agreement when Mr. Obama thundered against Mrs. Clinton.

“You all know the okidoke,” he said. “They are trying to hoodwink you. You can’t say that he is not ready on Day One, unless he is willing to be your vice president, then he is ready on Day One.”

Speculation of a joint ticket has circulated for more than a week, especially since the former first lady told voters in this state Friday they might have the opportunity to vote for them together.

“I’ve had people say, ’Well I wish I could vote for both of you.’ Well, that might be possible some day,” she said.

The remarks were replayed all weekend, becoming fodder for Sunday political talk shows.

Voters who had lined up since 2 p.m. for the 7:15 Obama rally here loved the idea.

“Are you kidding? I would faint,” gushed Dorothy Guyton, a mother of three from Kosciusko, Miss. “You’d have to do the interview from the ground, that would be so wonderful.”

She said as a black woman, she is elated to be witnessing history either way, but described herself as a devoted Obama supporter.

“It’s a real tear between consciousness,” she said. “I’m just so happy in this moment.”

Clinton-Obama, in any order, would be a “winning ticket,” said Michael Owen, a pastor from Jackson. “They would bring the combination and the chemistry together for the nation to rally and put a Democrat back in the White House.”

But Mr. Obama cautioned voters against linking the two Democrats.

“I don’t want anybody here thinking that … somehow, well, you know, maybe I can get both. Don’t think that way. You have to make a choice in this election,” he said.

Mrs. Clinton, backpedaling yesterday, told voters in Scranton, Pa., it was “preliminary” to talk about a joint ticket.

“A lot of Democrats like us both and have been very hopeful that they wouldn’t have to make a choice, but obviously Democrats have to make a choice and I’m looking forward to getting the nomination,” she said.

Mr. Obama pushed his message that he has “better judgment” than Mrs. Clinton since she voted for the war in Iraq.

“She has gone along with many of the conventional ways of thinking about foreign policy that have gotten us into trouble,” he said.

He also mocked her, noting that he has won more states, more votes and more delegates since the primary season began.

“I don’t know how somebody who is in second place is offering the vice presidency to the person who is in first place,” he said.

As Mr. Obama gave a more forceful version of his earlier remarks on the topic to nearly 9,000 in Jackson, Mrs. Clinton’s name was met with loud boos when he said she suggested, “Maybe I”d make a good vice president for her.”

The Illinois senator said the former first lady “would be a huge improvement” over President Bush but “it won’t be enough” to make real change.

The Obama campaign sent reporters a “flashback” from Bill Clinton’s 1992 run, when he said his top consideration for a vice-presidential pick would be the person’s readiness to be president.

The campaign also distributed another example it called “perplexing”: a quote from Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson saying, “We do not believe that Senator Obama has passed the commander-in-chief test. But there is a long way between now and Denver.”

Mrs. Clinton suggested she and presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona are more experienced than her Democratic opponent.

Several Mississippi voters, including younger voters less enamored with the Clinton administration’s record, said they shared Mr. Obama’s concern over a joint ticket. They especially cited what they felt had been a negative campaign coming from her side.

“No. It’s hard to say, but they have such different views there would be conflict, and we just need unity,” said Cora Smith of Jackson. She said she felt so strongly about it she would rather Mr. Obama turn down a vice-presidential offer should one come and wait another four or eight years.

“I’m a little leery of that,” agreed Cynthia Henderson, a professor from Ithaca College in New York who is volunteering for Mr. Obama in Mississippi.

“Hillary has been so negative toward Obama. It seems like she needs Obama more than he needs her,” she said. “I don’t even want to think of him as VP.”

Reporters asked Mr. Obama why he volunteered to raise the issue.

“The Clintons have spent all weekend talking about it, so I wanted to make sure there wasn’t any ambiguity about it,” Mr. Obama said, adding he is “not running” for the No. 2 slot and “I … don’t intend to be vice president.”

As each candidate made the case for the No. 1 slot to Mississippi voters, Hurricane Katrina recovery has been receiving more attention in recent days.

The Democrats rarely bring up Katrina unless prompted by questions when campaigning elsewhere in the country, but both are promising to help rebuild the Gulf Coast as they woo Mississippi voters.

Mrs. Clinton, here last week, said President Bush failed to meet the needs of the people affected during Katrina.

“We do not yet have the level of response and urgency that a national disaster, which turned into a national disgrace, deserves. I will do whatever I can to make up for lost time,” she said. Her husband also touted her plans to rebuild while touring towns ravaged by the summer 2005 storm.

Mr. Obama used the hurricane response in a twist to his standard stump speech yesterday. He said ending the war will allow the United States to spend money “right here” on schools, new roads and “rebuilding the Gulf Coast … after the storm.”

“That work is not yet done,” he said.