Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy accused Hillary Clinton today of “fear mongering” and spreading distortions about Barack Obama’s health-care plan in a pamphlet her campaign sent to voters in Wisconsin.

Kennedy, who campaigned for Obama in Ohio this weekend, rebuked Clinton for saying in campaign documents that Obama’s plan to overhaul the health-care system would leave 15 million Americans without coverage. Kennedy, who has fought for universal health care, said the claim is false.

“I was really shocked and surprised that Senator Clinton would put that pamphlet out,” the Massachusetts Democrat said on a call with reporters. “It’s basically fear mongering.”

Tensions between the two Democratic candidates are rising ahead of key nominating contests, including the Wisconsin primary on Feb. 19 and the Ohio and Texas primaries in March. Obama has a small lead in the count for pledged delegates so far.

Both Clinton and Obama are proposing a restructuring of the U.S. health-care system. The main difference is that Clinton, a New York senator, plans to mandates health-care coverage while Illinois Senator Obama doesn’t propose a mandate.

Obama says that doesn’t mean his plan would leave anyone without coverage.

“Let me be perfectly clear, if you’re an uninsured American who wants health-care coverage, you will have it under my plan,” Obama said in a speech to Wisconsin Democrats in Milwaukee yesterday. “Any suggestion otherwise is just false.”

Kennedy said he wouldn’t have endorsed the Illinois senator if he weren’t convinced that he would succeed in establishing universal health care.

Clinton Response

“We have enormous respect for Senator Kennedy, but the fact on this is clear and Obama’s plan leaves 15 million people out,” Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for Clinton, said in an interview today.

Clinton’s campaign today also accused Obama of breaking a promise to use public financing in the general election, assuming he’s the nominee, as long as his Republican opponent did the same.

Arizona Senator John McCain, the likely Republican nominee, has criticized Obama for not confirming his commitment to use limited government funds instead of the private money. McCain has promised to forego private financing, while saying he may reconsider if his Democratic opponent doesn’t do the same.

A spokesman for Obama said the campaign will address the question when the nominees from both parties have been established.

Tensions Rise

Obama has accumulated 1,037 pledged Democratic National Convention delegates to Clinton’s 953, according to an unofficial tally by thegreenpapers.com, a nonpartisan Web site that compiles election statistics. A candidate must receive 2,025 delegates to win the nomination.

The count doesn’t include almost 800 so-called superdelegates, Democratic Party officials and officeholders who aren’t bound by primary or caucus results and can back whomever they choose.

Source: Yahoo News