Clinton and Obama assail Republican McCain on economy

By Ellen Wulfhorst

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama assailed potential White House opponent John McCain on the economy on Tuesday, accusing the Republican of favoring the wealthy and turning his back on struggling workers and middle-class families.

The Democratic presidential contenders, campaigning in Pennsylvania ahead of their April 22 showdown, took a break from attacking each other to portray the Arizona senator as uncertain and untested on economic issues.

In separate appearances but similar language, they said McCain would take his economic cues from President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

"John McCain admits he doesn't understand the economy -- and unfortunately he's proving it in this campaign," Clinton told the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO union group.

"After seven disastrous years of George Bush and Dick Cheney, the stakes in this election couldn't be higher and the need to change course couldn't be more urgent. But John McCain is only offering more of the same," the New York senator said.

Obama, an Illinois senator, said all McCain offers "is four more years of the same George W. Bush policies that have gotten us into this pickle."

He noted McCain's support for extending Bush's tax cuts, which Obama said would help the wealthy, and his support for trade agreements that Obama said do not protect U.S. workers.

"His response to the housing crisis amounts to little more than standing on the sidelines and watching millions of Americans lose their homes," Obama said in Wilkes-Barre.

The winner of the Democratic nominating battle between Clinton and Obama will face McCain in November's election, and in recent days both candidates have toned down their attacks on each other to focus more directly on McCain.

They have criticized the former Navy fighter pilot and prisoner of war in Vietnam for saying he does not know as much about the economy as he does about national security and military issues.

McCain, on a week-long tour highlighting his military service and life story, visited his former high school outside Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

He said he will soon offer a plan with specifics to help homeowners who are having trouble paying their mortgages because of adjustable-rate loans.

'CHANGE THE FOCUS'

"Senator Clinton's attacks on John McCain are a desperate attempt to change the focus away from the divisive battle within the Democratic Party," said Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant, who challenged her to explain how she will pay for her new spending proposals.

Clinton proposed a plan on Tuesday to create 3 million jobs through increased investments over 10 years in the U.S. infrastructure, and proposed a $10 billion emergency fund for critical repairs to bridges and highways.