Clinton, Romney Go On Offense In N.H.

Washington Post: Former First Lady Takes Direct Control Over Strategy As Polls Show Obama's Lead Growing

(Washingtonpost.com)  This story was written by Anne E. Kornblut and Shailagh Murray.

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Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, slipping further behind her chief rival in the Democratic primary here, has taken direct control over her strategy and message as she scrambles to block the ascent of Sen. Barack Obama.

With just two days to go until the New Hampshire primary, contenders in both parties blanketed the state with campaign events. On the Republican side, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) continued their war of words, with Romney seeking to remind voters about McCain's unpopular stand on immigration legislation.

Despite being outwardly optimistic, Romney advisers are well aware that a loss Tuesday after defeat at the hands of former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee in Iowa on Thursday would unravel their carefully plotted route to the nomination. A new CNN/WMUR poll, released after a heated Saturday night debate in which Romney was peppered with criticism from his rivals, showed McCain maintaining a narrow lead over Romney.

That poll also showed Obama (Ill.) opening up a significant lead in the state, suggesting a major bounce in support following his win in the Iowa caucuses, where Clinton (N.Y.) finished third.

Frustrated by her campaign's reaction to the defeat, Clinton ordered her advisers Sunday to reorient their message to more aggressively focus on the idea that Obama is all talk and no action.

"This election is about the difference between talk and action, between rhetoric and reality," Clinton said at a crowded rally near the coast Sunday night in what advisers said was a new approach that she scripted herself. "If we're going to be talking about change, then let's talk about change. Let's talk about who's produced change, and let's talk about who's more likely to bring about change."

Obama, drawing overflow crowds at every stop, challenged Clinton's assertion that he is offering "false hope." Former senator John Edwards (N.C.), who placed second in Iowa but is trailing in New Hampshire, held an emotional event with the family of a young woman who died after she could not afford a liver transplant.

The Clinton campaign on Sunday held two conference calls to knock Obama over his record, advisers said, and attacked his campaign's use of automated phone calls. Officials sent out an appeal, labeled "urgent," seeking phone bank volunteers at the campaign's Arlington headquarters. Former president Bill Clinton also held a full day of campaign events, and advisers said he played a prominent role in crafting his wife's new approach to the race.

Clinton's campaign pounced on the fact that one of Obama's New Hampshire co-chairs, Jim Demers, is a registered state lobbyist, arguing that it calls into question Obama's pledge to clean up the insider culture in Washington. She also pointed to votes on Iraq war funding, the Patriot Act and energy policy that she said conflicted with her rival's public positions on those issues, attempting to portray him as another waffling politician.

"It's a classic response, when a candidate is in trouble, to go harshly negative," senior Obama adviser David Axelrod said.

In an unscheduled conference call with senior aides on Sunday morning, Clinton took what her advisers described as an unprecedented level of control over the direction of the daily message -- issuing orders rather than soliciting advice. According to one participant in the call, Clinton did not explicitly relieve any advisers of responsibilities, but she made it clear that she intends to reorient her campaign toward sharpening her differences with Obama on the trail. Two advisers, separately, used the term "very determined" to describe Clinton's attitude toward winning Tuesday's primary -- a characterization matched by her pace and aggressiveness on the campaign trail Sunday.

"It is important for you to have the facts, and last night we saw some of what the differences are," Clinton said during a rally that drew thousands in Nashua, referring to a Democratic debate the night before.

Of Obama, she said, "if you give a speech saying you're going to vote against the Patriot Act and you don't -- that's not change. If you say that you're going to prevent members of Congress from having lunch with lobbyists sitting down, but they still can have lunch standing up, that's not change."

She continued to use the "that's not change" mantra, with an enthusiastic audience eventually joining in the chant. Clinton's challenges in regaining an advantage in the race with an emboldened Obama go beyond sagging poll numbers, some of her own supporters acknowledge. Campaign officials have sounded the alarm about shortcomings in their organization in South Carolina, the next major contest on the Democratic calendar, causing concern that she will be outmatched in the primary there on Jan. 26.

But her campaign is continuing to hire staffers in key states that will vote in the Feb. 5 primaries, an indication that Clinton is determined to carry the race forward.

Obama drew overflow crowds as he campaigned across the state Sunday, but Clinton's attacks from the debate the night before lingered, adding an intensity to his typically breezy and uplifting stump speech. "We don't need leaders telling us what we cannot do. We need a president who can tell us what we can do," he said to a roaring crowd.

One of the Obama campaign's most pressing concerns is that an increasingly popular McCain, who leads the GOP field here, will siphon away independent votes, allowing Clinton to win. To add heft to his pitch to independents, Obama will be joined on the campaign trail Monday by former senator Bill Bradley (N.J.), a favorite of moderate and unaffiliated voters and among the vanguard in a wave of establishment endorsements that is expected to break should Obama prevail again.

Edwards, meanwhile, struck an emotional closing note, surrounded by the family of Nataline Sarkisyan, who died last month after her insurance company balked at paying for a liver transplant.

Edwards helped organize a protest that persuaded the insurer to offer, just hours before Sarkisyan's death, to pay for the procedure, and he has told her story repeatedly over the past 10 days. Her parents and brother contacted the campaign after hearing Edwards cite their experience as an example of what is wrong with the health insurance system. They flew into Manchester to appear with Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, at a jampacked downtown venue.

Edwards also went out of his way to assure New Hampshire voters Sunday that he will not quit the race if he fails to break through here. In 2004, as he did last week, Edwards finished second in the Iowa caucuses, then slipped further in New Hampshire before winning the South Carolina primary. Once again this year, Edwards is operating at a financial disadvantage. Nonetheless, he vowed: "I am in this race for the long haul. I am in it through the convention and into the White House."

Staff writer David S. Broder contributed to this report from New Hampshire.

[bubearcats08]

If you want to kick all immigrants out immediately, open up all of Alaska and the Arctic for drilling, tax the middle class even more with the "Fair Tax", elect Paul...or watch a real news show without staged questions for a change and see what he says.....instead of just slapping on a bumper sticker.....otherwise, he is more honest and straighforward than any other Republican candidate on the ballot currently......

[bubearcats08]

"And sometimes when we touch The honestys too much And I have to close my eyes and hide".......she can wear her blue dress, Huckabee will play guitar with Bill on sax......they can all go on all the late night shows during the writer''s strike as scab celebrities, like Huckabee did....

[bubearcats08]

It is tough to transcend petty *** when Hillary having a mental breakdown zooms to the top of the news instead of focusing on real issues....maybe she should visit Jamie Lynn Spears in the hospital instead of Dr. Phil and they can both break down together.....or they can both be consoled by Dr. Phil....while Bill plays his sax in the background.....

[moxford0]

What Romney really needs is a golden shower.

[aldee41]

The next President will be a Democrat.
Chose wisely. Chose Richardson.

[logicanada]

Is it just me or does Mitt Romney resemble that 80''s caricature ''Max Headroom''.

[trinitron01]

Hello People! You have a real chance to get the best man in office with a perfect record in congress-- none of them come close to Dr. Ron Paul. I have compared them. I didn''''t know who was who and didnt trust the media machine. Look up ronpaul2008.com and his issues and record, and you will see for yourself. Don''''t be fooled by the imitators, there is only one guy that can really make a difference for the people. Also Dr. Ron Paul is on TONIGHT WITH JAY LENO - Tonight!!!

[tibu987]

Yep, those tears were good for thousands more of women''s votes.
Not that her lack of qualifications come into play.
All that experience Hillary claims to have via osmosis from being First Lady.
Sorry, but tears are not allowed in the Oval Room.

[tibu987]

It just goes to show how distant the Republicans are from the electorate.
Let me give them a clue.

Any available medical insurance is too expensive for the average American.
The immigration problem, while important, should NOT take center stage above all the other problems the average American has.
What we want is "change", yes, change from the old pols resposible for the mess this country is in. A new, fresh outlook that takes into consideration all Americans and not just the wealthy.
We want an end to the war(s) in the Middle East, and our troops to come home.
We want a stronger economy and more jobs.
We want our infrastructure to be safe and well maintained.
We want to have the best schools and teachers for our children.
We want to be safe on our streets.
We want the wishy-washy politicians, purveyors of pork, out of office.
We want to be rid of the staus quo politicians who line their pockets and feed from the public trough.
We demand honesty from our government officials.
I believe those are some of the major issues and needs of the majority of the average voting public, and they get scant attention from the candidates.
Most of the presidential candidates are multi-millionaires that long ago lost touch with the average American and have no inkling about what our needs and sufferings are about.
And that is why Obama is in the lead, he is the only one who has shown some concern for the average American.
''''Nuff said.

[denn034]

Too bad Romney can''t blacklist his opponents like he''s probably blacklisted former employees of Bain Capital that he didn''t like.

[infidel_us]

Probably why Obama is shooting up--
Posted by b-easy63 at 03:03 PM : Jan 07, 2008

Oh, I get it.....just because he''s a brutha, he''s ''shooting up.'' If he were a cracker, you wouldn''t have said that! You racist! :)

[b-easy63]

Romney''s face in the above shot looks like a bad caricature. As for hilary--note to both her and Rom: New Hampshire folks don''t like negative campaign ads. LOL Probably why Obama is shooting up--not under his own merit--but in direct and diametric response to negative attacks.

[infidel_us]

Has Clinton ever given back the $850K in illegal Hsu money????

[denn034]

From the story: "carefully plotted route to the nomination." Is this a run for President or CEO of a corporation?

[jack3213]

Change does NOT mean looking like a fool with those who know NOTHING about ANYTHING.

[jack3213]

Hey RowdyTexan: In comment to yours:Clinton needs not to fight if she knew what she was doing. She depends too much on others to do her work for her. She has no experaince to speak of and has made false claims of her achievements. Proof is in the pudding. She is drowning in her own lies. Do you want to go down with the ship or do you want to swim and surivie with those that know more about what they speak of? Change does mean looking like a fool. Change can simply mean voting for someone who will do what is right, not someone who will do what others tell them.

[flalady41]

I am glad to see Clinton & Romney not doing well, as for me, I am for Huckabee all the way! He is the best person to run our country. The only one that seems to be trustworthy and has strong morals! Go Huckabee!

[talkingham]

U know, I wonder why the Obama name is always mispronounced - I don''t understand how you can get "O-boma" out of Obama. It should be pronounced o-bama - like the state of Alabama, otherwise the spelling should be be Oboma. Is there a conspiracy here to mispronounce the name because it would sound like "Bama" short for Alabama?

No one has mentioned this but but if were pronounced correctly so many people hate Alabama that I doubt he would have a chance to win any primary except Alabama.

Perhaps we should pronounce the name of the US as the United states of "Omerica".

[johnshaft4]

"Ding dong the wicked witch, the wicked witch is dead..."

[briannorwood]

I watched a little bit of the republican post-debate analysis on Fox News last night. Did anybody else catch the "focus group" thing immediately following where a "show of hands" vote showed all those supposedly "undecided" voters now firmly in the Romney camp? And the blockhead mediator claiming a "smashing victory" for Romney?

Looked really contrived to me! What''s the real story behind that? Are they pushing Romney only to stop McCain so their boy Giuliani can be the savior on the white horse?