Obama Campaign Believes "Starr" Remark Crosses Line

I've heard from several senior Obama aides today who are indignant about a new line of attack from Sen. Clinton's campaign.

On a conference this morning and in a follow up memo, Clinton aides compared recent Obama campaign tactics to independent counsel Kenneth Starr's Whitewater investigation/imbroglio.

Howard Wolfson, Clinton's communications director, said Obama and his campaign were "imitiating Ken Starr."

In a memo entitled "No Answers, Just Attacks," the campaign elaborated: "Apparently, the Obama campaign’s idea of new politics is to recycle the same old Republican attacks on Senator Clinton that have failed for years. Imitating Ken Starr is not the way to win the Democratic nomination."

Bill Burton, Obama's national press secretary, responded:

“It is absurd that after weeks of badgering the media to ‘vet’ Senator Obama, the Clinton campaign believes that they should be held to an entirely different standard. We don’t believe that expecting candidates for the presidency to disclose their tax returns somehow constitutes Ken Starr-tactics, but the kind of transparency and accountability that Americans are looking for and that’s been missing in Washington for far too long. And if Senator Clinton doesn’t think that the Republicans will ask these very same questions, then she’s not as ready to go toe-to-toe with John McCain as she claims,”