WRAPUP 4-Obama and Clinton take battle to Wisconsin

MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton traded fresh attacks and touted their economic leadership Saturday as they took their Democratic presidential duel to Wisconsin.

Clinton made her first campaign appearance in Wisconsin and promptly announced she would cut her state campaign schedule by a full day and leave Monday, raising questions about her confidence in her chances in Tuesday's primary.

Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, has been in the state and her daughter, Chelsea, will stay on to campaign.

"We're going to be here through Monday, and given the press of all the events that are going on -- Chelsea will be back in the state, Bill obviously was here. We have great surrogates," Clinton told reporters on a stop at a bratwurst restaurant in Kenosha.

Obama, a first-term Illinois senator, has beaten Clinton in the last eight contests and gained the upper hand in their battle to become their party's White House nominee in November's election.

Obama has spent four days in Wisconsin since his last round of victories Tuesday and he has a slight lead in state opinion polls. Clinton has focused on March 4 votes in Ohio and Texas, counting on victories there to revive her hopes.

Clinton kept up her criticism of Obama for refusing to debate her before the Wisconsin vote. She aired two ads earlier in the week hitting him on the issue.

"There are real differences here that we deserve to explore and the people of Wisconsin deserve to have answers to their questions," the New York senator said.

Obama launched his own advertisement responding to the attacks. The two are scheduled to debate Thursday in Texas, and the week after that in Ohio.

"After 18 debates, with two more coming, Hillary says Barack Obama is ducking debates? It's the same old politics," an announcer says in Obama's new ad.

Obama rejected her criticism that he is all talk and no action, and lacks her substance and experience.

"The question is not who has got the policies," Obama said at a rally in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. "The question is who can get them done, who can bring people together."

Democrats in Hawaii also vote on Tuesday and Obama, who was born in the state, is expected to win there. Wisconsin and Hawaii have a combined 94 delegates who select the nominee at the party convention in August.

ECONOMY THE FOCUS

Both candidates have focused on the economy recently. Ohio and Wisconsin are swing states with economic woes and large populations of blue-collar Democrats, a key part of Clinton's constituency.

Clinton also hopes to profit in Texas through her strength among Hispanics, who are expected to be at least one-quarter of the state's Democratic vote.

The two candidates appeared separate Saturday night at a party dinner in Milwaukee.

"It will take more than just speeches to fulfill our dreams. It will take a lot of hard work," Clinton said. "I know that some people have said that I am tough. You know what, we need a tough president."

Obama said he would be better suited to take on Republican front-runner John McCain on foreign policy, noting Clinton's Senate votes to authorize war in Iraq and label an Iranian military unit a terror group, as well as her criticism of his willingness to talk to rogue foreign leaders.

"If I am the nominee of this party, John McCain will not be able to say that I agreed with him on voting for the war in Iraq; agreed with him on giving George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran; and agree with him in embracing the Bush-Cheney policy of not talking to leaders we don't like," he said in his speech text.

Victories in Texas and Ohio have become vital for Clinton as she tries to make up a gap with Obama in the race for pledged delegates awarded by the state-by-state contests to pick a Democratic nominee.

Clinton adviser Harold Ickes said she would nearly catch Obama in the delegate race if she won those two states, and the two would be roughly even when the primary process ends in June. He said she would battle all the way to the convention if necessary.

The ultimate winner could be determined by support from 796 "superdelegates" -- party insiders and elected officials who are free to back any candidate.

McCain took the day off on Saturday before claiming the endorsement of former President George H.W. Bush, the father of the current president, at an event in Houston Monday.

McCain is almost certain to be the Republican presidential nominee for the November general election after defeating his main rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and winning his endorsement.

McCain's nearest rival is former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who badly trails the Arizona senator in the Republican delegate count.

(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan and Jim Wolf; Editing by Stuart Grudgings) (To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)