Obama calls gas tax relief a political ploy, as Clinton stands by her proposal

indianapolis -- Barack Obama on Saturday cited an escalating argument over a proposed federal gas tax holiday as evidence that his Democratic presidential rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, is prepared to tout dubious policy if it might help her win an election.

Speaking to an audience at a high school today, Obama said the proposal -- which also is backed by the presumptive GOP nominee, John McCain -- would save people the equivalent of half a tank of gasoline. That assumes the oil companies don't raise prices to fill the gap left by the tax holiday, he said.

"So this is not about getting you through the summer, it's about getting elected," Obama said. "And this is what passes for leadership in Washington -- phony ideas, calculated to win elections instead of actually solving problems."

But Clinton redoubled her defense of the proposal to temporarily suspend the 18.4-cents-a-gallon tax as she campaigned across North Carolina on Saturday.

"I have met a lot of folks in the last couple of weeks who are literally sick to their stomach when they pull in to fill up their gas tank," Clinton told supporters in Wake Forest, N.C.

Clinton increasingly has made the gas tax holiday central to her argument that she understands voters' suffering and is prepared to take immediate steps to give them relief.

In Gastonia, N.C., a manufacturing town outside Charlotte devastated by competition from Chinese textiles, Clinton was taunted by a protester who criticized her support of the idea.

But she eagerly fired back.

"I see that sign over there," she told the man. "A guy's got a sign saying a gas tax holiday is blatant pandering. Well, I'd rather the oil companies pay the gas tax than you pay the gas tax this summer."

The crowd cheered her pledge to go after oil companies, oil traders and members of OPEC for pushing up the price of oil by manipulating the market. "I am tired of being a patsy, of sitting here and taking it," she said.

In the weekend before the primaries in Indiana and North Carolina, Obama sought to beat back perceptions that he is out of touch with voters.

Campaigning in Indianapolis, Obama was introduced not by a politician but by an Amtrak machinist worried about losing his job. The candidate also took the stage briefly with his wife, Michelle, and two young daughters.

Clinton and Obama recently have aired TV ads critical of one another's positions on the gas tax. Economists, environmentalists and other experts have denounced the idea, saying that it would favor the oil industry rather than consumers.

On Saturday, Obama mentioned that Clinton's proposal had been praised by a Shell Oil lobbyist. His campaign later said that he was talking about Steve Elmendorf, a Clinton supporter.

A Clinton spokesman, Phil Singer, countered that Obama had supported a gas-tax suspension when he served in the Illinois Legislature. The Clinton campaign also noted that she would pay for the tax suspension through a windfall profits tax on oil companies.

"Considering that Sen. Obama voted to suspend the gas tax three times when gas cost less than $2 a gallon -- and has an energy lobbyist chairing his Indiana campaign -- it's hard to take his latest criticisms very seriously. Sen. Obama wants Americans to pay the gas tax, but Sen. Clinton thinks the big oil companies should pay it this summer."

Clinton's campaign was referring to Kip Tew, an Obama supporter in Indiana who has done lobbying work for energy interests.

Asked about Obama's previous votes in favor of a gas-tax suspension, his campaign said his position was based on the expectation the savings would be passed on to consumers. When he learned that did not happen, he voted against a permanent suspension of Illinois' portion of the gasoline tax, his campaign said.

With polls showing Clinton leading in Indiana and closing the gap in North Carolina, Obama is retooling his stump speech to broaden his appeal among working-class voters. Rather than talking abstractly about his desire to change the political tone in Washington, he moves quickly from an introductory greeting to a discussion of pocketbook concerns.

Less than two minutes into a speech in Charlotte, N.C., on Friday, he was talking about local job losses.

"At the end of the month, it's harder to make ends meet, and people sit around the kitchen table and try to figure out how to pay this bill and put this bill off," he said.

Clinton also spread a populist message to enthusiastic crowds Friday and Saturday as she crisscrossed North Carolina, promising to take on price gougers and countries that she has accused of cheating America.

"We've had enough of the talk and the rhetoric. That's not going to solve our problems," she said Friday night at the North Carolina Democratic Party's Jefferson Jackson dinner at the state fairgrounds in Raleigh. "What we need is action."

peter.nicholas@latimes.com

noam.levey@latimes.com

Nicholas reported from Indiana and Levey from North Carolina.