By Mike Manzoni

Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) remarks about small-town America at a closed-door fundraiser last week set off a string of attacks from his Democratic opponent and potential Republican challenger, however, the most recent polls in the this month’s key primary state of Pennsylvania indicate that the comments have not impacted his popularity.

At a private fundraiser in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, the junior Democratic senator spoke about the frustrations of working-class voters in a way that was perceived as elitist by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)

“It’s not surprising, then, they [working-class voters] get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations,” Obama said.

Last night, at a debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pa., Obama addressed the controversial statements saying, “I can see how people were offended. It’s not the first time I’ve made a statement that was mangled and it won’t be the last.”

Clinton, standing next to him at the debate, said the comments were a “fundamental misunderstanding.”

Earlier this week, Obama addressed the comments at a rally in Indiana.

He explained that there has been a “political flare-up because I said something that everybody knows is true, which is that there are a whole bunch of folks in small towns in Pennsylvania, in towns right here in Indiana, in my hometown in Illinois, who are bitter.

“They are angry. They feel like they have been left behind. They feel like nobody is paying attention to what they’re going through,” Obama said.

“So I said, well you know, when you’re bitter you turn to what you can count on. So people, they vote about guns, or they take comfort from their faith and their family and their community. And they get mad about illegal immigrants who are coming over to this country.”

Clinton’s campaign says the statements have benefited her because it has taken away from her husband, former President Bill Clinton, revisiting her gaffe on her trip to Bosnia which attracted negative attention a couple of weeks ago.

Clinton attacked Obama’s comments before a crowd of manufacturing workers in Indianapolis, calling his comments “elitist, out of touch and frankly, patronizing.”

McCain agreed with Clinton that the remarks were “elitist.”

“The people of faith I know don’t ‘cling’ to religion because they’re bitter,” said Clinton. “People embrace faith not because they are materially poor, but because they are spiritually rich.”

“I also disagree with Senator Obama’s assertion that people in this country ‘cling to guns’ and have certain attitudes about immigration or trade simply out of frustration,” Clinton added. “People don’t need a president who looks down on them. They need a president who stands up for them.”

Obama released his 2007 tax return Wednesday evening, showing he earned $4.2 million last year, $3.9 million of it due to a sharp increase in book sales because of his presidential campaign. Obama had earned only about $1 million in 2006.

Last Thursday, Elton John appeared and performed at a fundraiser for Clinton at Radio City Music Hall, which on Monday resulted in a legal complaint from Judical Watch, a conservative interest group, because it is illegal for a foreign national to contribute to a national, state or local campaign, according to a post on The New York Times Caucus political blog.

The Clinton campaign responded on its Web site Hillaryhub.com with a statement: “Hillary’s campaign has complied with the law. Since 1987, the FEC has consistently held that foreign nationals may volunteer their time for campaigns on an uncompensated basis. Elton John is simply volunteering his uncompensated time to appear at the concert.”

Both candidates appeared at a “Compassion Forum” held at Messiah College and moderated by Campbell Brown of CNN and Jon Meacham of Newsweek on Sunday night. They answered questions concerning both the headlines of the day and on matters of faith, including euthanasia, abortion and other issues in an extremely personal matter.

“I have, ever since I’ve been a little girl, felt the presence of God in my life,” Clinton said, referring to how large of a role faith played in her everyday life. “And it has been a gift of grace that has, for me, been incredibly sustaining.”

Despite the negative clout over his campaign since the comments, a newly released LA Times/Bloomberg News poll showed Obama gaining support in three upcoming primary states.

The poll, released Tuesday, showed him ahead of Clinton by five points in Indiana and leading her by 13 points in North Carolina.

The poll indicated that Clinton still retains her lead in Pennsylvania; a state that holds its primary on Tuesday with 187 delegates are at stake.