"Obama, Edwards Criticize Clinton"

AP:

LE MARS, Iowa — Barack Obama and John Edwards separately castigated Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton for defending lobbyists and portrayed her as the consummate Washington insider with special interest ties.

"If you don't think lobbyists have too much influence in Washington, then I believe you've probably been in Washington too long," Obama said Monday. Added Edwards in an Associated Press interview: "Democratic candidates, and for that matter all candidates, should just say we're not taking these peoples' money anymore because it's the way to take their power away from them, and it's the way to bring about the change that this country needs."

Among Republican hopefuls, John McCain promised to protect individual's property rights, Rudy Giuliani sidestepped a question about his daughter's apparent enthusiasm for Obama and Sam Brownback squared off with Mitt Romney over the sanctity of life.

Unencumbered now that Congress is on a monthlong break, presidential candidates from both parties descended on the leadoff contest state of Iowa, where they tested themes, rolled out proposals and maneuvered for support.

The sharpest elbows Monday came from Obama, the Illinois senator, and Edwards, the former North Carolina senator. They seized on Clinton's remarks at a weekend candidate forum in Chicago to argue she was not the candidate of change but rather a Washington creature who would maintain the status quo.

On Saturday, the New York senator drew boos and hisses from liberal bloggers when, unlike Edwards and Obama, she refused to forsake campaign donations from the special interest industry. Instead, she said: "A lot of those lobbyists, whether you like it or not, represent real Americans, they actually do."

Neither Edwards nor Obama accept money directly from federal lobbyists but both take contributions from people who work at firms with lobbying operations.

"I profoundly disagree with her statements," Obama said in an Associated Press interview here. "This campaign is going to come down to whether you believe that it's enough just to get somebody other than George Bush in the White House to fix what ails Washington, or do you think we need to set a fundamentally new course."

Unveiling his trade policy at a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, union hall, Edwards argued that President Clinton allowed corporate insiders to shape the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement that has cost U.S. jobs. Swiping at the former president's wife, Edwards said: "It's time to have a president that always _ always _ puts the interests of the American people first."

In an AP interview, Edwards argued that Washington lobbyists "rig the system" of government and candidates can take away such influence by refusing money from them. Edwards added: "This is not specifically just about Senator Clinton or anybody else, it's about restoring the power of the government back to its people."

Responding to the criticism, Clinton's campaign circulated a memo arguing that opponents were threatened by polls showing her gaining ground. Said chief strategist Mark Penn: "She is the candidate of experience and change, a combination no other candidate can match."