Obama Asks Bill Clinton to Help With Fightback

Barack Obama yesterday made a belated personal appeal to Bill Clinton for advice on how to fight back against a resurgent Republican presidential campaign. The lunchtime meeting in New York between the Democratic party's two towering figures came amid growing despair at Obama's slide in the polls in the past week. Democratic figures are openly expressing fears that he does not have a strategy to counter the rising appeal of John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin.

Although Clinton extravagantly praised Obama in his speech to the Democratic convention in Denver last month, the relationship between the two has remained strained after Obama's bitter Democratic primary campaign against Hillary Clinton earlier this year. Yesterday's meeting, which took place at the headquarters of Clinton's foundation in Harlem, was their first face-to-face encounter since the primary season ended in June. They had spoken on the phone on only two occasions since Obama won the nomination.

In an attempt to smooth the way for the meeting, Obama said he saw parallels between his own campaign and Clinton's in 1992: a relatively unknown politician fighting the Republicans against a backdrop of an ailing economy.

"I've got lunch with Bill Clinton, which I'm looking forward to," he told David Letterman on Wednesday night. "There's nobody smarter in politics and he is going to be campaigning for us over the next eight weeks, which I'm thrilled by, because the race that he ran in 92 was similar to what's taking place now."

Clinton extended the lunch offer to Obama about a week ago - before Palin began to energise the Republican base - after waiting for months for the Democratic candidate to get in touch. If they had met earlier it would have been characterized as Obama meeting Clinton from a position of strength, but it now adds to the sense of Obama being on the defensive and needing help in putting his campaign back on course.

Obama said Clinton had been successful in reaching out to people in 1992 on the economy and he would like to use him in that role in this campaign, telling people "why we need to change the economy in a fundamental way so it works for middle-class families, so that they can get ahead, so that they can send their kids to college. I think he can be a great advocate on behalf of the campaign," he said.

Hillary Clinton has been actively campaigning for Obama in battleground states. However, she has drawn a line against making personal attacks on Palin, Clinton insiders said. She is happy to attack the Republicans on policy, but thinks it is a strategic mistake to engage in personal criticism of Palin. But she defended Obama who has been under attack for using the phrase "lipstick on a pig" to describe McCain's recycled policies. Republicans have accused him of insulting Palin.

Clinton dismissed the notion at a press conference yesterday. "Barack has made this clear," she said. "It was in no way meant as an affront."

While Bill Clinton will also go out on the trail for Obama, the election timetable is narrowing. The former president has many commitments in the next few weeks, including his annual Global Initiative conference in New York this month, which attracts leaders from the world to discuss climate change and development.

A new opinion poll out yesterday showed Obama's poll lead slipping in key states that will determine the election outcome: Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio. A Quinnipiac University poll showed McCain pulling away in Florida, with a lead of 50% to Obama's 43%. The Republican was narrowing the gap in Pennsylvania, with Obama on 48% and McCain on 45%. Obama maintained his lead in Ohio, 49% to McCain's 44%.

There were signs this week of a concerted effort by Obama's campaign to fight back against Republican attacks. A close adviser, Valerie Jarrett, told the Wall Street Journal yesterday that Obama had told her he was not going to let Palin hijack media attention any longer. Echoing the view reached by Hillary Clinton and other senior Democrats, Obama said he would desist from personal attacks on Palin and "stay focused on John McCain".

Obama's bad week became worse when the National Rifle Association stepped up opposition to him. The NRA, which has millions of US supporters and had played little part in the campaign, sees Obama as hostile towards gun ownership.