Obama and Clinton face off in Wisconsin, Hawaii as Democratic contest veers negative

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton squared off in a scrappy Wisconsin primary and in laid back Hawaii caucuses on Tuesday, their struggle for the Democratic presidential nomination veering toward the negative.

Wisconsin offered 74 national convention delegates, and an early test of support in industrial states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania.

There were 20 delegates at stake in Hawaii, where neither Clinton nor Obama campaigned in person.

Obama began the night with 1,281 delegates in The Associated Press count, and Clinton with 1,218. It takes 2,025 to win the nomination at the party's national convention in Denver.

Republican front-runner John McCain hoped to inch closer to wrapping up the nomination in primaries in Wisconsin and Washington, with 56 delegates at stake. The Arizona senator had 908 delegates, and his closest remaining rival, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, had 245. Texas Rep. Ron Paul had 14.

Obama began the evening with eight straight primary and caucus victories, a post-Super Tuesday run that has propelled him past Clinton in the overall delegate race and enabled him to chip away at her advantage among elected officials within the party.

Clinton's aides initially signaled she would virtually concede Wisconsin, and the former first lady spent less time in the state than Obama.

Even so, she ran a television ad that accused her rival of ducking a debate in the state and added that she had the only health care plan that covers all Americans and the only economic plan to stop home foreclosures. "Maybe he'd prefer to give speeches than have to answer questions" the commercial said.

Obama countered with an ad of his own, saying Clinton was guilty of "the same old politics." It added that he, not she, has a plan to protect Social Security and that his health care plan would cover more people.

The campaign grew increasingly testy over the weekend, when Clinton's aides accused her rival of plagiarism for delivering a speech that included words that had first been uttered by Deval Patrick, the Massachusetts governor and a friend of Obama.

"I really don't think this is too big of a deal," Obama told reporters later in the day, eager to lay the issue to rest quickly. He said Clinton had used his slogans, too.

Even before the votes were tallied in one state, the campaigners were looking ahead.