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Such statements are ''completely unacceptable and inexcusable,'' said Obama, campaigning to become the first black president, and he sought to lay the issue to rest with a widely noted speech on race.

Soon, though, Obama was in trouble again, this time completely of his own making. Speaking at a closed fundraiser, he said residents of small-town America were bitter, and clung to religion and guns as a result.

Clinton said the remarks were elitist. ''Pennsylvanians don't need a president who looks down on them,'' she said as the controversy flared. ''They need a president who stands up for them.''

Obama hit back with a memorable, if personal comment, playing off her attempts to identify with the state's rural gun culture.

''She's talking like she's Annie Oakley,'' he said. ''Hillary Clinton is out there like she's on the duck blind every Sunday. She's packing a six-shooter. Come on, she knows better. That's some politics being played by Hillary Clinton.''

Clinton's biggest error of the past six weeks was unforced, her statement that she had braved sniper fire as first lady while landing in Bosnia. Videotape of the incident made clear that hadn't happened, and the Obama campaign sought to draw attention to the episode to undermine her credibility.

Clinton's spokesman said she had misspoken, but she went further than that in hopes to tamping down the controversy.

''I made a mistake,'' she said. ''That happens. It proves I'm human, which you know, for some people, is a revelation.''

Clinton also confronted problems inside her campaign, when it was disclosed that Mark Penn, her chief strategist, had met with representatives of the Colombian government to help promote a Colombian free trade agreement. He did so in his capacity as chief executive of public relations giant Burson-Marsteller, but Clinton opposes the agreement, and within a few days, she shuffled the staff.

There were a few moments of humor tucked in among the gaffes, the insults and the controversies, the most notable triggered by Obama's comically poor attempt at bowling.

''My economic plan is better than my bowling,'' Obama told fellow bowlers one Saturday evening at the Pleasant Valley Recreation Center.

''It has to be,'' responded a local man, his assessment unchallenged.

From a distance, Clinton sensed an opening.

I have a proposal to make,'' she said a few days later. ''Today, I am challenging Senator Obama to a bowl-off.''

''A bowling night. Right here in Pennsylvania. The winner take all,'' she went on.

''It is time for his campaign to get out of the gutter and allow all the pins to be counted.''

April Fools.

Joke's on the Democrats.

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