At the heart of this latest controversy in the Democratic Party nomination fight are comments Senator Obama made last week at a fundraiser in San Francisco.

Obama said many working-class Americans in small towns are bitter because they are frustrated with economic conditions. Obama went on to say that frustration causes them to, in his words, cling to guns or religion and leads to what he called antipathy to people who are not like them.

The Clinton campaign has seized on the comments in recent days as evidence that Obama is an elitist.