Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign questioned her rival’s ties to a Chicago developer whose federal corruption trial begins this week, prompting Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign to make its most direct reference to the Whitewater scandal that plagued the Clintons in the 1990s.
Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson, appearing yesterday with Obama adviser David Axelrod on ABC’s “This Week,” demanded that the senator from Illinois release any records related to his dealings with Tony Rezko.
Mr. Wolfson challenged Mr. Axelrod to “put out all of the information regarding that real estate transaction, all of the e-mails, all of the correspondence, all of the letters, every single piece of information so that the public can really look at this.”
Mr. Wolfson demanded answers to how many meetings Mr. Obama attended with Rezko associates and the “full details” of the senator’s 2005 home purchase, which he called “this very unusual real estate transaction with somebody who’s about to go on trial on Monday.”
“With all due respect, I would think that the Clinton campaign would be the last person to be wanting to characterize any real estate transaction as unusual,” Mr. Axelrod retorted, apparently referring to Whitewater.
Mr. Axelrod said 255 news stories, including an Associated Press analysis, about the Rezko-Obama connection have been released, and “there has been not one bit of evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Senator Obama in this or any other matter.”
“All these questions have been asked. All these questions have been answered,” he said, accusing Mr. Wolfson of turning the dialogue negative in an attempt to salvage the campaign of the senator from New York.
The Obama campaign has not been as forthcoming with information as Mr. Axelrod suggested. The campaign told reporters last month that the senator toured his South Side home in 2005 with Mr. Rezko, who was his friend at the time. Mr. Obama received a discount for purchasing the home, and Mr. Rezko bought the lot next door.
The Chicago Tribune reported that the two men “entered a series of personal financial arrangements to redivide and improve the lots.”
“Senator Obama was buying this house, and he wanted … Rezko’s opinion on whether … it was a good deal,” Mr. Axelrod said yesterday.
He reminded Mr. Wolfson that the Obama campaign returned $150,000 in Rezko donations, none of which went toward his presidential bid. He also pushed for Mrs. Clinton to make her tax returns public before April 15 as planned.
Jury selection begins today in the Rezko case. The developer is charged with using his political clout with state officials to commit money laundering, attempted extortion and fraud, and is accused of aiding bribery.
Although Mr. Obama’s name might be mentioned during testimony, the case will focus on accusations of corruption by the current and former governors of Illinois.
Both campaigns are working to get out the vote in Texas and Ohio using surrogates, volunteers from other states and groups such as unions and advocacy coalitions.
MoveOn.org yesterday held what the liberal group billed as the “largest one-day phone bank” in primary history for Mr. Obama. The group, joined by Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, planned to make more than 400,000 phone calls.
“If our Texas members and other Democrats flood the polls and the caucuses for Obama, we can help put this race over the top,” said Eli Pariser, MoveOn’s executive director.
Officials in Texas and Ohio are expecting record turnout tomorrow, and thousands of Democrats already have cast ballots through early voting programs.
Tomorrow is a make-or-break day for Mrs. Clinton, who has lost 11 straight contests and trails Mr. Obama by about 160 delegates in the nomination battle.
Mrs. Clinton will host a televised statewide “Texas-Sized Town Hall” forum from Austin at 7:30 p.m. EST today. It will be streamed on her Web site and broadcast on Fox Sports.
She also will appear on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” for the first time in several years, in an attempt to reach young voters and viewers that seem friendlier to Mr. Obama.
Mr. Obama will hold two Texas town hall meetings and a Houston rally today.
Most polls show Mr. Obama with a lead in Texas, which also holds caucuses tomorrow night.
In Ohio, Mrs. Clinton holds a 3.8-point average lead, according to RealClearPolitics .com, but several polls have them deadlocked.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
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