SANTA FE — The state Republican Party is airing radio ads in eight New Mexico communities criticizing Barack Obama for his recent comments about bitter working-class voters who "cling to guns or religion.''
The first of the ads began Thursday, and they'll continue through April 25, said Scott Darnell, the party's director of communications.
Darnell said the GOP wants to make sure rural voters know what the Democratic presidential candidate said, characterizing his comments as "out of touch with them and possibly not respectful of their values.''
He declined to say what the party is spending on the ads.
A spokeswoman for the Obama campaign, Amy Brundage, said the ad "is exactly the kind of politics that distracts us from the issues that really matter to the American people.''
Obama's remarks at a private fundraiser in San Francisco, first reported last week on the Huffington Post Web site, prompted criticism from Republican presidential candidate John McCain as well as Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton, who called them "elitist and out of touch.''
Obama, referring to working-class voters frustrated with economic conditions, had said: "It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.''
Obama acknowledged later that he could have worded his comments better. But he insisted that many working-class Americans are angry and bitter over economic inequalities, have lost faith in Washington and vote on the basis of other issues.
The radio ads say that the remarks were made "to a crowd of San Francisco liberals'' and that Obama "attacked the values of people living in small towns.''
"Many are wondering — who does Barack Obama think he is?'' the ad concludes. "On second thought, who does Barack Obama think we are?''
The ads are airing in Clovis, Portales, Raton, Las Vegas, Alamogordo, Carlsbad, Hobbs and Roswell.
Brundage, the Obama campaign spokesman, said the Illinois senator "has spent a lifetime working to make a difference in the lives of working families,'' and as president he would end divisive politics "so we can pass universal health care, strengthen our economy, give every child a world-class education and end the war in Iraq.''
In New Mexico's Democratic caucus in February, Clinton narrowly beat Obama.
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