Clinton denies disparaging voters in '95

Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign denied Thursday that she had referred disparagingly to blue-collar workers after they voted Republican in the 1994 congressional elections, which gave the GOP control of Congress and cast a shadow on her husband's presidency.

The allegation, which surfaced Wednesday on The Huffington Post, is that at a Camp David, Md., retreat in January 1995, Clinton — then first lady — told her husband to abandon Southern working-class voters who had deserted his party at the polls.

"Screw 'em," she said, according to several witnesses. "You don't owe them a thing, Bill. They've done nothing for you. You don't have to do anything for them."

Her campaign denied the charge Thursday. "It ain't so, it ain't so," communications director Howard Wolfson said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

Ahead of Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary — in which working-class voters could tip the balance — Clinton has been pounding Obama for saying that small-town Americans were "bitter" over their economic woes and clinging to religion and guns as a result.

Clinton said: "I don't think [Obama] really gets it that people are looking for a president who stands up for you and not looks down on you."

Clinton takes act to "Colbert Report"

PHILADELPHIA — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton played up her image as a tireless problem solver when she visited Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" on Thursday night.

Not to be outdone, Sen. Barack Obama showed up via satellite to poke fun at what he called the media's fixation on gaffes and trivialities.

Clinton emerged just as host Stephen Colbert, broadcasting from the University of Pennsylvania, was lamenting he had no technicians to repair the lost signal on his projector screen.

"Are you telling me there is no one in this theater who can fix the mess we're in?" Colbert cried out.

"I can," Clinton said as she strolled onstage. She fixed the problem and then called out a makeup artist to take care of Colbert's shiny forehead.

"I just love solving problems. Call me any time," Clinton replied. "Call me at 3 a.m."

Seattle Times news services