The party maintains a healthy lead in polling, however.
Shorten, who has campaigned against the government's "cruel" first budget and maintains a lead in opinion polls, has been accused by the Coalition of irresponsibly blocking measures to repair the nation's finances.
Mrs. Clinton, of New York, still maintains a lead in the polls here, but that lead was shrinking, at least before Mr. Obama, of Illinois, made his comments about small-town voters.
Rangel maintains a lead in the polls -- although as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va).
A CBS News/New York Times national survey released on Thursday shows that Clinton maintains a lead in the polls among Democrats, 55percentt of whom expressed support for Clinton over Sanders, who has 33percentt backing.
But it made clear that Barack Obama maintains a narrow lead in the polling averages in states that would get him to 270 electoral votes.
The Web site RealClear Politics maintains a useful compendium of national polls.
(In fact, according to the latest polls, Trump maintains a sizable lead over the other Republican candidates).
Clinton still maintains a commanding lead in the polls, but signs are emerging that she may not be in as strong a position in the state as she would like.
With its many working-class whites, women and retirees, Rhode Island is friendly turf for Mrs. Clinton, who has the support of most Democratic leaders here and maintains a slight lead in the polls.
