Also-rans in Iowa go on the attack

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mitt Romney targeted their main rivals for attack Friday as the presidential candidates wasted no time reflecting on Iowa's results before dashing in the predawn hours to New Hampshire, which will hold the nation's first primary Tuesday.

Advisers to Clinton, a Democratic senator from New York, said she planned to rebound from her third-place finish in Iowa by attacking the winner, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, and giving former President Clinton a larger strategic role in the campaign.

Republican former Massachusetts Gov. Romney — wedged between former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's Iowa victory and Arizona Sen. John McCain's surge in New Hampshire — began attacking his rivals immediately, launching new Web ads ripping both as tax-raisers and soft on illegal immigration.

Obama bounded into New Hampshire charged with momentum and suggested that a second Clinton loss there would damage her prospects seriously.

"If you give me the chance Iowa gave me last night, I truly believe I will be president of the United States of America," he told hundreds at a morning rally in Portsmouth.

Later Friday, he received a thunderous welcome at a Democratic dinner in Milford.

"In four days' time, it is your turn to change America," he said to cheers. It was the most enthusiastic response to any of the candidates appearing at the party fundraiser, including Clinton, as hundreds of supporters crowded against the stage to get close to him.

Romney took the gloves off after a disappointing finish in Iowa, airing a 30-second ad that shows McCain from the 2000 campaign, when he was running against George W. Bush for the Republican presidential nomination. Among other things, the ad criticizes McCain for voting against Bush's tax cuts and supporting the president's immigration plan, which included a guest-worker provision.

McCain said he intended to bring up what he considered Romney's inconsistent record during New Hampshire's Republican debates tonight and Sunday night, but wouldn't get into a tit-for-tat of negative ads.

Romney took similarly hard shots earlier this week at Huckabee and his campaign partner, martial-arts legend and actor Chuck Norris, in a 30-spot titled "Roundhouse Kick." Norris appeared with Huckabee on Friday in Henniker, N.H.

Huckabee dismissed Romney's attacks Friday, saying that Iowa voters had proved that they won't work.

In his only public event Friday, Huckabee joined an enthusiastic crowd of about 1,000 at New England College in Henniker and spent most of his time playing guitar with the rock band Mama Kicks.

After playing "Mustang Sally," "Twist and Shout" and "Midnight Hour," with Norris watching, Huckabee asked, "Do you really think they have that much fun in Hillary crowds?"

Huckabee faces a daunting task in New Hampshire. He won in Iowa because Christian conservatives and evangelicals voted heavily for him. However, they account for only 15 to 20 percent of the Republican vote in New Hampshire.

"It's not the same electorate as in the South or the Midwest," said Andrew Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. "The biggest problem Huckabee's got is he has no organization here."

Clinton tried to put a positive spin on the Iowa results, saying in New Hampshire, "This is a new day, this is a new state.

"I was never a front-runner of any significance in Iowa. Iowa, I knew, was always going to be hard for me."

Clinton campaign officials made it clear that they intend to get more aggressive against Obama. Former Democratic Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe, campaign spokesman Jay Carson and others said the campaign would begin to draw "sharp contrasts" with Obama, political-speak for going on the attack.

"This has been very much a referendum on her, and I think people will take a harder look at the choice and the president who's needed for this time," said Mark Penn, Clinton's chief strategist.

That's a perilous strategy, though. Clinton already has high negative poll ratings, and attacking Obama could worsen her image.