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Obama, hampered by 'rumors,' hopes to win over Ky. later

By Ryan Alessi

RALESSI@HERALD-LEADER.COM

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who won't be back in Kentucky before Tuesday's primary election, said he hopes to have much more time to win over Kentucky voters before the November general election.

"When we're able to campaign in a place like Iowa for several months, and I can visit and talk to people individually, I do very well. That's harder to do at this stage in the campaign," Obama said in a brief telephone interview with the Herald-Leader Friday. "And once we get past the primary, we'll be able to focus more on those states where we need to make sure people know my track record."

Obama, who trails his Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton in the state, said he's also been hampered in places like Kentucky by "systematically" dispersed e-mails of misinformation about him, as well as Fox News, which he said has played up "rumors."

But he maintained that he can connect with voters who might still be skeptical or unsure of him with his message of change and "pushing aside the special interests that are dominating Washington."

"Being truthful with the American people about how we're going to solve problems, like high gas prices -- that, I think, is the kind of approach that will appeal in Kentucky like it has everywhere else," he said.

Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, spoke to more than 8,000 supporters in Louisville Monday night -- his first time in the state since August. He said he had hoped to spend more time in Kentucky earlier this week but was called back to Washington, D.C., for votes on Tuesday.

Since then, he's stumped in Oregon, which will hold its primary by mail on Tuesday, and South Dakota, where Democrats vote June 3, as well as in states that already held their primary elections, such as Michigan and Missouri.

"We're having to campaign in a lot of different places," Obama said. "Obviously we think Kentucky is important. People in Kentucky are concerned about the same things people are concerned about all across the country -- declining wages and incomes combined with the rising costs of everything from gas to health care."

Obama's wife, Michelle, is slated to campaign in Kentucky on Monday.

Meanwhile, Clinton, the New York senator, plans to barnstorm the state with five stops this weekend.

Obama conceded that, if he's the Democratic nominee, he has a steep challenge in Kentucky -- where he trails Clinton by 27 points in the Herald-Leader/WKYT Kentucky Poll --and West Virginia, where voters chose Clinton over Obama by 40 points on Tuesday.

"What it says is that I'm not very well known in that part of the country," Obama said. "Sen. Clinton, I think, is much better known -- not only because of her time in the White House with her husband -- but also coming from a nearby state of Arkansas."

Obama has been trying to introduce himself to Kentuckians using a series of biographical TV ads, as well as fliers, including one that shows him at a pulpit in front of a church's cross and pipe organ.

He acknowledged that he's trying to "reverse a lot of misconceptions" about his background. He is a Christian, although some e-mail chains have said he is a Muslim.

"Part of it is because there have been these e-mails that have been sent out very systematically, presumably by various political opponents, although I don't know who," he said. "And there are a lot of voters who get their news from Fox News. Fox has been pumping up rumors about my religious beliefs or my patriotism or what have you since the beginning of the campaign."

As Clinton continues to argue that she is better suited to win in key, large swing states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio, Obama countered that he has performed better among independents.

And he said he and Clinton match up similarly against Republican nominee John McCain.

Both trail McCain, the U.S. senator from Arizona, by double digits in a Herald-Leader/WKYT poll of 600 likely general election voters. McCain leads Clinton by 12 points and Obama by 25 points.

"I think, whoever the Democratic nominee is, we're going to have some work to do in a state like Kentucky," Obama said.

Republican National Committee Spokeswoman Katie Wright dismissed Obama's contention that he'll be competitive in Kentucky this fall.

"The more voters in Kentucky get to know Senator Obama, the more they will realize that he doesn't understand the economy or their values," Wright said in a statement. "Higher taxes, threatening Second Amendment rights, taxing 'dirty energy' and taking choice out of health care won't benefit our country, much less the hard-working families of Kentucky."