Obama to Clinton: Get ready to rumble
nationalpost.com
By Sheldon Alberts, CanWest News Service
Published: Wednesday, January 09, 2008
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Barack Obama had a message yesterday for Hillary Clinton -- get ready for a "rough-and-tumble" month of presidential campaigning.
Regrouping after an unexpected loss in New Hampshire's presidential primaries, the rookie Illinois senator accused his Democratic rival's camp of distorting his record and warned he is capable of hard-nosed politics.
"We're accustomed to rough-and-tumble. I don't expect this to be a cakewalk," he said.
"I think that folks ... started to anoint us in a way that they were anointing Senator Clinton back in the summer. And that's always a dangerous place to be."
Ms. Clinton shocked Mr. Obama on Tuesday by beating him in New Hampshire after a slew of polls predicted she was headed for a momentum-killing defeat. It was a reversal of the results five days earlier in Iowa, where Mr. Obama was the surprise winner of the Democratic caucuses.
As the two candidates left New Hampshire in preparation for the next contests -- in Nevada on Jan. 19 and South Carolina on Jan. 26 -- strategists in both camps said the mixed results so far are evidence the 2008 race will be the most hotly contested Democratic nomination battle in a generation.
"Every time Hillary had some adversity, she picked herself up, dusted herself off, kept fighting, and fighting, and fighting and won," said Chuck Schumer, New York's senior senator and a Clinton campaign advisor.
"Anybody who bets against Hillary Clinton is making a big mistake."
The intensity of the Democratic race is amplified by its historic possibilities, with Ms. Clinton vying to become the United States' first female president and Mr. Obama its first African-American one.
In a conference call with reporters, Clinton campaign insiders said the former first lady would place a heavier emphasis on courting female voters, who propelled her to victory in New Hampshire.
Howard Wolfson, Ms. Clinton's communication director, said the focus would be on such big states as California, New York and New Jersey, which vote on Feb. 5 as part of the Super Tuesday primaries.
But Ms. Clinton also believes Mr. Obama's loss in New Hampshire will make him newly vulnerable in South Carolina, where 50% of Democratic voters are African-American.
"We are going to compete vigorously in all of the states that are going to be holding caucuses and primaries between now and Feb. 5, and that absolutely includes South Carolina," Mr. Wolfson said.
For her part, Ms. Clinton promised to show Americans more of the softer side of her personality, which yesterday included giving post-victory interviews from her home in Chappaqua, N.Y.
The New York senator said she believed the turning point in New Hampshire came during a debate on Saturday in Manchester when she faced a tag team of Mr. Obama and John Edwards, former North Carolina senator.
In the heat of the debate, Ms. Clinton said charges that she was less likeable than Mr. Obama "hurt my feelings." She followed up with a highly publicized display of emotion in a café the day before voting.
"Being able to also begin to talk about what motivates me, what gets me up in the morning, why I care about doing this work, you know, was very important to me," she said.
"And I had this incredible moment of connection with the voters of New Hampshire, and they saw it and they heard, and they gave me this incredible victory."
That Ms. Clinton recognized the impact of her moment of vulnerability in New Hampshire was evident yesterday when her campaign arranged a conference call with two female senators supporting her candidacy.
"[The incident] showed her humanity and real warmth," said Senator Dianne Feinstein of California.
"I also think that there is a great emotional connection between women and Hillary ... It's a significant factor here that, for the first time, I mean, women could conceivably elect the president of the United States."
In many ways, Ms. Clinton's new message borrows heavily from Mr. Obama and Mr. Edwards, who have stressed the importance of making personal connections with voters.
Mr. Obama, who has built his campaign on the "politics of hope," said yesterday he plans no changes in strategy.
"I feel a lot more comfortable now understanding this is a victory we are going to have to earn," he said.
But he added he is prepared to fight back when attacked. In particular, former president Bill Clinton ratcheted up his attacks on Mr. Obama before the New Hampshire primary, dismissing as a "fairy tale" Mr. Obama's claims that he is an agent of change in U.S. politics.
"I know that president Clinton is passionate about his wife and wants to see her win [but] during the course of this week, I think, he said some things that distorted my record," Mr. Obama said.
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