US:HILLARY CLINTON has turned up the heat on Barack Obama ahead of next Tuesday's primaries in Texas and Ohio with a television ad that mimics scare messages used by Lyndon Johnson against Barry Goldwater and by Walter Mondale against Gary Hart.
"It's 3am and your children are asleep," the voiceover says. "There's a phone in the White House, and it's ringing. Something is happening in the world. Your vote will decide who answers that call. Whether someone knows the world's leaders, knows the military, someone tested and ready to lead. It's 3am and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want answering the phone?"
The ad was devised by Roy Spence, who created a similar ad for Mr Mondale in 1984, showing a red phone ringing in the White House at night. In 1964, Johnson ran an infamous ad showing a girl picking petals off a daisy as a mushroom cloud exploded.
Mr Obama responded to the Clinton ad by claiming he had shown better judgment on foreign policy by opposing the Iraq war.
"We've had a red phone moment," he said. "It was the decision to invade Iraq. And Senator Clinton gave the wrong answer."
Mrs Clinton started running the ad as polls show her trailing Mr Obama in Texas and only slightly ahead in Ohio. A Zogby poll published yesterday gives Mr Obama a six-point edge on Mrs Clinton in Texas, with 48 per cent to her 42 per cent. Mrs Clinton is ahead by 44 per cent to 42 per cent in Ohio, well within the poll's margin of error.
Her strategists acknowledge that she must win both states to remain in the race for the Democratic nomination.
The former first lady said yesterday that Mr Obama "just hasn't been around long enough" for voters to judge accurately what he represents.
"I think the best description actually is in Barack's own book where he said that he is a blank screen and people of widely different views project what they want to hear," she told ABC News.
Mr Obama has almost ignored Mrs Clinton in recent days as he has exchanged barbs over Iraq and the economy with Republican frontrunner John McCain.
Mr Obama's campaign believes his lead over Mrs Clinton among delegates is insurmountable but hopes that, by winning Texas or Ohio, he can drive the former first lady out of the race next week.
Mr Obama has a lead of about 160 pledged delegates over Mrs Clinton and if super-delegates are counted, he is about 100 delegates ahead. Super-delegates are congressmen, governors and other senior party figures who account for a fifth of the votes at the nominating convention.
Yesterday's Zogby poll showed that Mr Obama has a big edge with voters in Texas and Ohio who made their decision within the last month, while Mrs Clinton led comfortably in both states among voters who decided more than a month ago.
"All the momentum is clearly with Obama," pollster John Zogby said. "The clearest indicator is the line of demarcation between those who decided early and those who are deciding late. The question is whether she can stem the tide."
