Clinton dismisses "elite" economists on gas tax

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Sunday dismissed the "elite opinion" of economists who criticized her gas tax proposal, using a term that has dogged rival Barack Obama in recent weeks.

Obama, meanwhile, accused the New York senator of pandering on gas taxes and saber rattling toward Iran as the two gave television interviews before primary contests in North Carolina and Indiana. The two are battling to be their party's nominee and face Republican John McCain in November.

Clinton used her appearance on ABC's "This Week" to raise questions about Obama's ability to connect with working-class Americans while dismissing economists who have said her plan to suspend gas taxes over the summer would do little good.

"I'm not going to put my lot in with economists," the New York senator said when asked to name a credible economist who supported her proposal.

"We've got to get out of this mind-set where somehow elite opinion is always on the side of doing things that really disadvantage the vast majority of Americans," said Clinton, a former first lady who would be the first woman president.

Critics have painted Obama as elitist for a comment he made about job losses causing some small-town Americans to become bitter and to cling to guns and religion.

That perception hurt the Illinois senator in the big blue-collar state of Pennsylvania, where Clinton won a crucial victory last month in the protracted Democratic contest.

The two candidates next square off in North Carolina and Indiana on Tuesday. Polls close by 7 p.m. EDT in Indiana and by 7:30 p.m. EDT in North Carolina. Results are expected shortly after.

"WASHINGTON GIMMICK"

In an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Obama dismissed Clinton's gas-tax proposal as "a classic Washington gimmick" that has no chance of becoming law.

"What this is a strategy to get through the next election," he said.

Obama acknowledged he should have more quickly distanced himself from his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who has suggested the U.S. government created AIDS to kill blacks and the September 11 attacks were payback for U.S. foreign policy.

"When you're in national politics, it's always good to pull the Band-aid off quick," Obama said. "But life's messy sometimes, it's not always neat, and things don't always proceed in textbook Political 101 fashion."

Obama, who would be the first black president, did not repudiate Wright completely until last week, after the Chicago preacher reiterated his views.

The Illinois senator also compared Clinton's views on Iran to that of unpopular Republican President George W. Bush. Clinton has threatened to "totally obliterate" Iran if it attacked Israel.

"It is important that we use language that sends a signal to the world community that we're shifting from the sort of cowboy diplomacy, or lack of diplomacy, that we've seen out of George Bush," he said.

Obama remains the front-runner in the Democratic race, though he is not expected to win enough delegates from state contests to clinch the nomination outright. The nominee is likely to be determined by party insiders.

Opinion polls show Obama losing ground to Clinton in Indiana and North Carolina during the past several weeks.

Obama now leads Clinton by an average of 7 percentage points in North Carolina and trails her by an average of 6 percentage points in Indiana.

On Saturday night, he eked out a narrow seven-vote victory in the U.S. Pacific island territory of Guam.

(Additional reporting by Patrick Rucker in Washington and Caren Bohan and Jeff Mason in Indiana)