Dawn Crawford vs Dirty County Politicians and  Officials

Sen. Barack Obama accused rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton today of attempting to "hoodwink" and "bamboozle" voters into thinking she was the front-runner by offering him the second slot on her ticket.

Over the weekend, the New York senator and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, both suggested that Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, was not seasoned enough to be president but might make a good vice presidential candidate on a ticket topped by Clinton.

Obama, at a rally in Columbus, Miss., on the eve of Mississippi's primary Tuesday, belittled the attempt by Clinton to portray herself as the top Democrat and said he is not running for vice president. Though he did not rule out the prospect, Obama made clear he was not interested.

"First of all, with all due respect, I've won twice as many states as Sen. Clinton, I've won more of the popular vote than Sen. Clinton, I have more delegates than Sen. Clinton," he said. "So I don't know how somebody who's in second place is offering the vice presidency to the person who's in first place."

Calling Clinton's tactics an attempt "to bamboozle you, to hoodwink you," Obama said voters have to make a choice.

Calling Clinton "a formidable opponent," and "tenacious," Obama called the Clinton tactic "gamesmanship," saying that if he was ready to be vice president -- one heartbeat away from the presidency -- he was also qualified to be president.

"Iwant everybody to be absolutely clear," he said. "I'm not running for vice president. I'm running for president of the United States. I'm running to be commander in chief."

Referring to the "red phone" ad that Clinton ran 10 days ago questioning his experience, Obama said he represents "a clean break from George Bush" whereas Clinton does not. "She has gone along with many of the conventional ways of thinking on foreign policy that have gotten us into trouble," he said.

Obama, hoping to pick up most of Mississippi's 33 pledged delegates in the primary there, plans rallies today in two cities in the state, Columbus and Jackson. The Illinois senator is favored to win in Mississippi, where 37% of the Democratic electorate is African American. But the Clinton campaign is working to keep Obama's margins from becoming a landslide. Former President Clinton and daughter Chelsea stumped in Mississippi over the weekend, and Hillary Clinton campaigned there last week. Today, the New York senator is stumping in the next big state on the calendar -- Pennsylvania, which votes April 22 and offers 158 delegates.

The two campaigns, separated according to the latest Associated Press tally by 110 delegates, are also debating how to organize and finance "do-over" elections for Michigan and Florida, which violated Democratic National Committee rules by holding early primaries. Two Democratic governors who support Clinton -- Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey and Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania -- said Sunday that they stand ready to raise half of the estimated $30 million needed for new Florida and Michigan primaries, while DNC Chairman Howard Dean and others called for less expensive mail-in voting.

As the Democrats continue to battle, Sen. John McCain embarked on a weeklong fund-raising trip today, hoping to use his status as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to offset the Democrats' current money advantage.

McCain, who clinched the GOP nomination after last Tuesday's primaries, is planning a fund-raiser today at the Hilton St. Louis Frontenac, where tickets cost $1,000 for a reception, or $2,300 for the reception plus a photo opportunity with the candidate. McCain then moves across the country corralling cash from the party faithful all week long with stops Tuesday in Manhattan, Wednesday in Boston, Thursday in Philadelphia and Friday in Chicago.

Taking advantage of the down-to-the-wire contest between Obama and Clinton, the McCain campaign said it plans 20 to 30 fund-raising events a month. According to the latest campaign reports, McCain had brought in $55 million in contributions as of Feb. 1, compared with Clinton's $138 million and Obama's $141 million.

With Democrats unlikely to resolve their contest any time soon, the McCain campaign is planning a trip to the Middle East next week to highlight the senator's foreign policy experience, and what it is calling a "bio tour" next month in which the Arizona senator would highlight places important to his life story, including the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, where he graduated before going on to service as a Navy pilot in Vietnam.

johanna.neuman@latimes.com