BEND, Ore. (May 11) - Barack Obama began sketching the outlines of his expected presidential contest against Republican John McCain on Saturday, saying the fall election will be more about specific plans and priorities than about questions of political ideology or who is more patriotic.

Mark Wilson, Getty Images

"I think this is going to be a very concrete contest around very specific plans for how we improve the lives of Americans and our vision for the future," said Sen. Barack Obama, seen here at a rally in Albany, Ore., on Friday.

Barely mentioning Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama said he was open to campaigning with McCain in "town hall" events. But he also warned that controversial issues such as McCain's ties to the Keating Five savings and loan scandal are fair game, and he called McCain's proposal for a temporary halt in the federal gasoline tax a pander and a gimmick.

He did not mention that Clinton supports a similar plan.

Obama also said he soon will campaign in Michigan and Florida, two battleground states whose Democratic primaries were essentially nullified by party disputes, angering many voters. He is scheduled to campaign Tuesday in Missouri, marking the first such visit to a state where the primary is over and McCain awaits him in the fall.

Saying he still has not secured the nomination, Obama nonetheless entertained several questions about the likely outlines of a contest against McCain. As he campaigned in Oregon, whose primary is May 20, Obama picked up four superdelegate endorsements, erasing Clinton's once-substantial lead among the party leaders who will determine the nominee.

Many party leaders feel it is only a matter of time before the former first lady must concede defeat. But Clinton forged ahead Saturday, holding a fundraiser in New York.

"Let's keep going, stay with me, this is a great adventure and we're going to make history," she told the crowd.

Speaking with reporters in Bend, Ore., Obama brushed aside suggestions that the fall campaign may be largely about his race, liberalism or patriotism.

"In a contest between myself and John McCain," he said, "there is going to be a very clear choice on policy that I don't think is going to have to do with ideology and who theoretically is more liberal or who's more conservative. I think it is going to have to do with who has a plan to provide relief to people when it comes to their gas prices, who has a real plan to make sure that everybody has health insurance, who's got a real plan to deal with college affordability."

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"So rather than an abstract set of questions about, 'Is he too liberal, is he too conservative, how do voters handle an African American, et cetera,' I think this is going to be a very concrete contest around very specific plans for how we improve the lives of Americans and our vision for the future," he said.

Obama said he realizes he must continue introducing himself to millions of Americans who do not know him well, and acknowledged that some question his patriotism because he no longer wears a lapel flag pin.

He said the test of patriotism "is whether we are true to the ideals and values upon which this country was founded," and willing to fight for them "even when it's politically inconvenient."

Obama said McCain has received "a free pass" while he and Clinton have battled for months.

McCain, he said, "has a straight-talker image, but it's not clear that lately he's been following through on that image. I mean, this gas tax holiday was a pander. He didn't even have a way of paying for it."

The McCain campaign noted that Obama, as an Illinois state senator, once voted for a temporary gas tax suspension. Obama now says he made a mistake.

Obama was asked Saturday if the fall campaign might touch on the 1987 Keating Five scandal, in which the Senate Ethics Committee said McCain used "poor judgment" for allegedly pressing regulators to go easy on the owner of a failed Arizona savings and loan who was also a campaign contributor.

Obama said there is no doubt the Keating Five case is "germane to the presidency."

"I can't quarrel with the American people wanting to know more about that," he said.

Clinton, meanwhile, spent the afternoon in Manhattan raising money for her cash-strapped campaign.

She made her pitch to a crowd of several hundred people, most of them women — appealing to the group that has largely been responsible for keeping her in the race this long. In the primaries to date, Clinton has held a 60 percent to 36 percent edge over Obama among white female voters.

Appearing with her daughter, Chelsea, Clinton took questions from the audience after a short speech that touched on issues like equal pay for women and balancing work outside the home with family responsibilities. She barely mentioned Obama, only noting their differences on health care and the gas tax.

She said it would be "exciting to have the first mother in the White House."

"Part of what that would mean is that we would have someone who has lived the experiences that many of us share," she said.

Clinton has struggled to raise money in recent weeks, and was set back further this week when she squeaked by with a narrow win in Indiana while Obama won handily in North Carolina. Aides also disclosed that Clinton had lent her campaign $6.4 million since mid-April, and said she had not ruled out doing so again. The recent loans come after a separate $5 million loan in February.

Clinton is favored to win Tuesday's primary in West Virginia, and on Saturday she implored her audience to stick with her.

Sara Kugler reported from New York.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

2008-05-11 07:27:37

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shadownettie 08:57:51 PM May 16 2008

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Obama will ruin this country more then Bush has done in both terms.He has'nt even gotten the nomination yet and he's challanging Bush on forigen policy. YO! Obama, wait until you get nominated babe!ok?until then TAKE A HIKE YOU LOSER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

shadownettie 08:31:41 PM May 16 2008

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Obama is a LOSER

shadownettie 08:30:05 PM May 16 2008

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It's unfortunate that who Obama really is was covered up alittle to late.Once again the media protected him. If it was'nt for Hannity the American people would not know the truth tha Barack Obama is a lying,racist arrogant WASTE!!!!!!!!! It makes me sick to even have to look at his freaking face on telivision let alone listen to his CHANGE BULLSHIT! Mccain is looking like the President more and more.

hippiemom654 11:45:58 AM May 16 2008

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Obama will beat McCain handily. McCain is too slow on the uptake, and Barack will have the questions answered before John understands them.

hippiemom654 11:42:20 AM May 16 2008

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qharab2..........it seems to me it is the bigots, racists, and Billary lovers who are doing all the whining. Obama is winning this fair and square. He didn't make the rules. He didn't make up all the lies, rumors and slanderous statements about himself. Those of us supporting Obama are doing so b/c we feel HE is the best person to turn things around in the USA and throughout the world. You folks are seriously underestimating him.

hippiemom654 11:38:06 AM May 16 2008

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Everyone is entitled to vote for the candidate of their choice. I would just like to offer a caution. Think very long and hard before you vote for John McCain. If you have been at all unhappy over the past 7 years at the way our government has been run, the total disregard for the Constitution, a president who believes he is above the law, a president and cabinet who lied about the wmd's and got us into this awful war we WILL NEVER WIN, etc., think twice about McCain. He differs only very slightly from Bush. I know I, for one, cannot handle even one more year of Bush-isms.

qharab2 11:30:19 AM May 16 2008

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WOW--DID ANYONE SEE THE PHOTO OF OBAMA RESPONDING TO OUR PRESIDENTS SPEECH--GIVE HIM A BANANA --SURE DOES LOOK READY TO EAT ONE--AND HE DOES LOOK LIKE CURIOUS GEORGE--AND HE IS BLACK --WHAT DO YOU DEMOCREEPS WANT US TO CALL YOUR BLACK MAN--GREEN!!!!!?????WHINE WHINE WHINE THAT IS ALL THE DEMOCREEPS CAN DO ==AT LEAST OUR PRESIDENT HAS MANNERS!!!AND A POLITE WIFE NOT A rudeCREEP LIKEYOUR BLACK CANIDATE HAS--and folks I am not for any particular party but I do not appreciate a liar like Obama !!!!!!and i do have friends of color so that is not the point--it is that you demos think you can ridicule others but you scream kick and whine when something is commented on factually but negatively about a person who is a definate America Hater , BLACK and a liar !!!!!God Bless the Working Americans and down with the rude freebies

annteg 01:21:32 AM May 16 2008

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I just love all the political pundits talking about "doing the math"... perhaps they've forgotten that the Super Delegates CAN and often DO change their votes in the NATIONAL primary.

If it even appears that Hillary has become more popular then you will see them changing their support to Her. It's really that simple... so why are they talking about math?! Because they need something to talk about. When it comes to REAL Issues... Hillary and Barack think alike.

The question is... who can beat John McCain?
Well look at the latest polls... by an large majority most of America truly believes Hillary can do it. Barack Obama beating John McCain?... not so much.

junebaby1935 08:53:58 PM May 15 2008

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h3j3h3

That's hilariously crazy. You don't remember about Black racistin the past? Maybe you are too young to remember? It's always been that the blacks hated the whites, I sure remember.

I went to school with them, back then, and until recently, they continually thought
Whites were the only "color" in the world, and they hated us. How well I remember. Maybe some of you older ones do, also. Didn't bother me, but just look back at history.

ShirlGirl

junebaby1935 08:47:58 PM May 15 2008

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glendeeclif

We are in an Obama "bubble". Until the people get wise, he's going to win.
Sad to say. I can't believe so many people are FOR him, when just this year many have heard of him. What does he know about our country, without first becoming a Senator or? I think everyone's gone nuts, even with his past, they are going to vote for him.

Well, let me tell you, you'll all be screaming IF he makes it. But it will be your own fault..... and I'll be laughing out loud.

ShirlGirl

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