Clinton's remarks in Pittsburgh could serve to distract attention from her admission to the Daily News Monday that she had exaggerated details of a 1996 visit to Bosnia.

Clinton addressed both issues as she campaigned in western Pennsylvania for the state's April 22 primary.

In an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Clinton said that she would have left her church if her pastor made the sort of inflammatory remarks that Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright Jr., made.

"You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend," Clinton said, referring to Wright's comments as "hate speech."

The issue has been fueled by incendiary videos of Wright sermons saying that the 9/11 attacks were "chickens coming home to roost" for the nation that dropped atomic bombs on Japanese civilians in World War II.

Another video showed Wright saying that African-Americans, subjected to slavery and Jim Crow laws, ought to say, "God damn America!" instead of "God Bless America."

Clinton noted that she had condemned racially insensitive comments made by radio host Don Imus, adding: "I just think you have to speak out against that. You certainly have to do that, if not explicitly, then implicitly by getting up and moving."

Obama campaign spokesman Sean Smith said that Obama already had condemned Wright's comments and had "addressed the issue of race in a deeply personal and uncommonly honest speech."

"If Senator Clinton has decided now she wants to play politics with this issue, that's a disappointing choice," Smith said, adding that she may be trying to distract attention from the controversy about her 1996 landing in Bosnia.

Clinton told the Daily News Monday that she misspoke when she said she had landed "under sniper fire," that a tarmac greeting ceremony had been scrapped and that she and her party had to run with their "heads down" to waiting vehicles.

News accounts have challenged the account, and both video and photos have emerged showing Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea, calmly greeting men in suits and an 8-year old child on the runway.

The Bosnia landing was the first thing she was asked about yesterday when interviewed by KDKA radio in Pittsburgh. She again said she mis-spoke and said with a laugh, "This has been a very long campaign. Occasionally, I am a human being like everybody else."

Also yesterday, Obama released his tax returns for the years 2000 through 2006, and challenged Clinton to do the same.

Clinton's returns from her days in the White House were released long ago, and she promised Monday to release the others on or around April 15.

"We're gathering all the information to be able to do this, and soon as it's ready, we'll release them," Clinton said.

The Obama returns show he and his wife, Michelle, to be a prosperous family, earning between $200,000 and $272,000 from 2000 through 2004, and doing better in recent years.

The family reported income of $1,655,106 in 2005 and $983,826 in 2006, with most of the increase coming from the publication of Obama's two books.

Over the seven years reported, the Obamas paid an average of 29 percent of their income in federal taxes, and gave just under 4 percent in charitable gifts.

In other campaign news, a new poll by Rasmussen Reports found Clinton leading Obama in Pennsylvania 49 percent to 39 percent, a narrower margin than the 16 point Clinton lead reported in the latest Daily News/Franklin & Marshall poll.

The Daily News survey was taken during the controversy over Rev. Wright's remarks but before Obama gave his widely praised March 18 speech on race in America.

In the Rasmussen poll, 36 percent said Wright's comments made them less likely to vote for Obama, and 15 percent said it made them more likely.

Another 38 percent said they were very or somewhat concerned about Obama's relationship with Wright.

Also yesterday, Clinton debuted a new TV ad stressing populist economic themes and featuring her saying it's "time to level the playing field against the special interests." *