WRAPUP 5-Obama lashes out at rivals who say he's elitist

(New throughout with fresh Obama, Clinton comments)

By Caren Bohan

STEELTON, Pa., April 13 (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama accused his rivals for the U.S. presidency on Sunday 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," 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."

In comments at a private fundraiser that became public on Friday, 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 Obama as an elitist with a condescending view of middle-class voters.

The comments have the potential to threaten Obama's chances in Pennsylvania, which votes on April 22 to help pick a Democratic candidate to run against McCain in November's presidential election.

Before the remarks became public Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, had been cutting into the large lead that Clinton once held in Pennsylvania opinion polls.