Health care mailer spurs spat

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CHEYENNE - Supporters of Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized the campaign of rival Barack Obama on Friday for mailers they said contained inaccurate attacks on Clinton's health care plan.

The rivals' running battle over health care arrived in Wyoming as both campaigns sought to raise their profiles before the March 8 Democratic caucus. Seven national Democratic delegates, out of 18 total from Wyoming, will be directly at stake when voters meet at county conventions across the state.

At issue Friday was a flier - mailed in recent days to homes around the state - saying Clinton's health care plan would force "everyone to buy insurance, even if you can't afford it." Similar mailings distributed in other states have prompted a feud between the candidates and a testy exchange at a debate in Ohio this week.

Former Wyoming Secretary of State Kathy Karpan said the flier was meant to scare the same people who would benefit from Clinton's plan.

"I think what was particularly troubling … was the statement that Hillary Clinton would go after people's wages and force them to buy coverage they can't afford," said Karpan, a member of the Clinton campaign state steering committee.

In disputing the claim, the Clinton campaign maintained her plan would cut health care costs as aggressively as Obama's and give a variety of options to families.

Shannon Gilson, a spokeswoman for the Obama campaign in Chicago, said the mailer was accurate.

"She herself has said that under the Clinton health care plan she would consider going after the wages of Americans who don't purchase health insurance, whether they can afford it or not," Gilson said.

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