New Clinton economic message has echoes of Edwards

By Caren Bohan

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (Reuters) - White House hopeful Hillary Clinton has a message for hairdressers in Wisconsin, postal workers in Ohio and autoworkers across the United States who are struggling financially: She cares.

The former first lady and New York senator is hoping blue collar workers will provide her with a crucial base of support as she tries to erode the lead her rival Barack Obama has opened in the tight race to become the Democratic nominee in the November presidential election.

Clinton is courting working-class voters with a new message of economic populism similar to the theme of John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator who dropped out of the Democratic race in January.

Edwards never gained enough momentum to be competitive with Obama and Clinton, but the New York and Illinois senators are trying to woo his followers, many of whom were passionate about his pledge to take on "corporate greed" and bring change to a government he said had sold out the middle class.

Obama and Clinton are both seeking the endorsement of Edwards, who has so far remained neutral.

At campaign rallies over the last few days, Clinton has vowed to rein in corporate interests from oil companies to credit card issuers and mortgage lenders, contending that they are profiting at the expense of the middle class.

"Some days, it probably feels like the perfect storm. You fill up your tank, and that's two twenties from your wallet. You pick up a gallon of milk and a few other things -- and there goes another," Clinton told autoworkers on Thursday at a General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio.

"After a while, you feel like a human ATM -- with all the money going the wrong way."

The Lordstown plant was where Clinton, holding up a pair of boxing gloves and pledging to fight the influence of "special interests," first unveiled her re-tooled economic theme.

In what pundits are calling a divide between the latte sippers and Dunkin' Donuts coffee drinkers, Obama, who would be the first black president, has garnered strong support from upper-middle class, well-educated voters while more moderate-income voters have gravitated toward Clinton.

But some results of the primary contests last week in the Washington D.C.-area suggested Obama was making inroads with lower-income voters.

POPULIST MESSAGE

While Edwards was able to galvanize working-class voters by vowing to champion their interests, his campaign faced some awkward moments when his lifestyle as a successful lawyer collided with the image he was seeking to project, such as when it was revealed that he had gotten a $400 haircut.

Clinton, who would become the first woman president, has described herself as "of, from and for the middle class." She grew up in a comfortable middle-class suburb of Chicago then went on to attend elite Wellesley College and Yale Law School before becoming first lady and later a senator. She is wealthy enough that she was able to loan her campaign $5 million.

Clinton hammered the economic populist theme throughout a two-day swing in Ohio last week and in Wisconsin, where she arrived on Saturday before the state's primary on Tuesday. Ohio's March 4 primary is considered a must-win for her.