Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) feathered his bid for his party’s presidential nomination with a call for universal health coverage – and a swipe at the pharmaceutical industry. In an address this morning, Obama said: “Another, more controversial area we need to look at is how much of our healthcare spending is going toward the record-breaking profits earned by the drug and healthcare industry. It’s perfectly understandable for a corporation to try and make a profit, but when those profits are soaring higher and higher each year while millions lose their coverage and premiums skyrocket, we have a responsibility to ask why.” Obama’s chief rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, was one of the industry’s top beneficiaries in the 2006 election cycle, receiving $119,225 from industry PACs and individual donors. She is expected to dust off some elements of her 1994 healthcare plan, which failed to win congressional approval, according to Washington trade The Hill.