Obama, Clinton stress economic issues during stops in West Virginia, Indiana

The Democratic contenders for the presidential nomination took on the economy today as they campaigned in states whose primaries are more than a month away.

Sen. Barack Obama, who campaigned in West Virginia, stressed the financial cost of the five years of war in Iraq. It was money, he argued, that could have been used for domestic needs such as healthcare and education.

“How much longer are we going to ask our families and our communities to bear the cost of this war?” Obama asked in a speech at the University of Charleston.

“When you’re spending over $50 to fill up your car because the price of oil is four times what it was before Iraq, you’re paying a price for this war,” Obama said. “When Iraq is costing each household about $100 a month, you’re paying a price for this war.”

It was Obama’s third day of issue-specific speeches: race on Tuesday, foreign affairs on Wednesday and today’s focus on the economy. All are issues that his campaign is hoping will distinguish him from his Democratic rival, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, and eventually, from Arizona Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.

Obama took time to again criticize McCain, who was traveling in England on a congressional trip, for his support of the Iraq war and other policies associated with the Bush administration.

“No matter what the costs, no matter what the consequences, John McCain seems determined to carry out a third Bush term,” Obama said in speech, parts of which were televised. “That is an outcome America can’t afford.”

Sen. Clinton also stressed the economy as she campaigned in Indiana. At her first stop, a diner in Terre Haute, she held an economic round table, listening to voters describe their problems.

“It is up to us to determine how we’re going to meet those challenges and I’m running for president because I know we can do better,” she said in a televised comment to one of the participants. “I have every confidence and I’m optimistic that together we can make the changes we need to make. It won’t be easy, but nothing in life worth doing is easy.”

With the next major primary set for Pennsylvania on April 22, today’s campaign stops were more notable for where they were, rather than their content.

Indiana’s primary is on May 6 and West Virginia’s is on May 13. That the candidates took time to campaign in those states is one more indication that the fiercely contested battle for pledged delegates will go on through the spring.

Currently, Obama holds a lead of about 120 delegates over Clinton, according to the Associated Press count, though other tallies have the Illinois senator leading by different margins. Regardless of the exact count, it is unlikely that either candidate can win the nomination in the remaining contests.

There are about 10 contests still ahead, but that could change depending on what happens in Florida and Michigan, which were stripped of their Democratic delegates for moving their primaries to January, earlier than the Democratic National Committee had wanted. The candidates agreed not to compete, but Clinton won the vote in both uncontested state races. Obama’s name didn’t appear on the Michigan ballot.

The situation has created a mess for the Democrats: how to get two important states involved in the choice of the presidential nominee while balancing the different political aims of the candidates.

Clinton, taking questions in Indiana today, repeated her call to allow Michigan to run another primary, though that appears less likely each day.

The Obama campaign said today that dividing Michigan’s delegates would be a fair way of resolving the dispute over how to handle the Michigan problem. That action would not have an effect on Obama’s lead in delegates.

The Clinton campaign immediately rejected the proposal.

michael.muskal@latimes.com