Democrat Barack Obama accused his rivals for the US presidency yesterday of twisting his words for political gain when they branded him an elitist for saying embittered small-town voters were clinging to guns or religion.
"I am the first to admit that some of the words I chose, I chose badly," Mr Obama told steel workers in Pennsylvania. "They were subject to misinterpretation. They were subject to be twisted. And I regret that, I regret that deeply."
But he added, "It sounds like there's some politics being played."
Democratic nomination candidate Barack Obama
In comments at a private fundraiser that became public on Friday, Mr Obama, an Illinois senator, said a week ago that economic problems led voters in small towns to become "bitter" and to "cling to guns or religion."
His rival for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton, and the likely Republican nominee, John McCain, seized on the remarks to paint Mr Obama as an elitist with a condescending view of middle-class voters.
The comments have the potential to threaten Mr Obama's chances in Pennsylvania, which votes on April 22nd to help pick a Democratic candidate to run against Mr McCain in November's presidential election.
Before the remarks became public Mr Obama had been cutting into the large lead that Mrs Clinton once held in Pennsylvania opinion polls.
He leads her in pledged delegates won in state contests, but neither is likely to reach the 2,024 needed for nomination at the Democrats' national convention in August without support of the nearly 800 superdelegates.
Trying to turn the tables on both rivals, Mr Obama said his words had been twisted to suggest he was demeaning people who were religious and gun owners. "I am a man of deep faith," he said, adding that he respected the right of people to own guns. "I have repeatedly talked about the tradition that people pass on from generation to generation, hunters and sportsman."
He accused Mr McCain, an Arizona senator, of lacking a plan to deal with the mortgage crisis and Mrs Clinton, a New York senator, of being too close to lobbyists, contending they were the ones who were out of touch.
He went a step further in criticizing Mrs Clinton, saying "shame on her," and also mocked her recounting of a duck-hunting trip she took in Arkansas many years ago. "She's talking like she's Annie Oakley," Mr Obama said, referring to a heroine of the American Wild West. "I want to see that picture of her out there in the duck blind."
The Clinton campaign responded by labeling Mr Obama's comments an "outburst" and accusing him of attacking Mrs Clinton's character. "The shame is his," said Phil Singer, deputy communications director for the Clinton campaign.