Clinton sharpens her criticism of Obama's record

DERRY, N.H. — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday sought to slow the momentum of Sen. Barack Obama heading into Tuesday's New Hampshire primary by pointedly challenging his voting record and the assertion that he is the only candidate who would bring about change.

At a raucous rally in a high-school gymnasium in Nashua, Clinton skewered Obama for several of his Senate votes, such as his vote in favor of the Patriot Act and for energy legislation she described as "Dick Cheney's energy bill." She never mentioned Obama's name but left no doubt about whom she was discussing.

"You campaign in poetry, but you govern in prose," Clinton said, urging voters to take a second look at the race. "We need a president who knows how to govern, who will bring us together as a country to find common ground, but who also knows how to stand our ground."

The fresh criticism, an abrupt change in course for the Clinton campaign, came as polls here suggested Obama had received a significant boost from his victory in the Iowa caucuses last week and now enjoyed a comfortable lead here. Advisers to Clinton were privately looking ahead to the next Democratic contest, the Nevada caucuses Jan. 19, in hopes of resurrecting her candidacy.

Standing ovations

As Obama drew standing ovations across southern New Hampshire, he barely acknowledged the criticism. Yet he derided Clinton for a suggesting during a televised debate Saturday that his candidacy was rooted in a false hope.

"What kind of agenda is that? False hope?" Obama said.

"The real gamble in this election is to do the same things, with the same folks, playing the same games over and over and over again and somehow expect a different result," he said. "That is a gamble we cannot afford, that is a risk we cannot take. Not this time. Not now. It is time to turn the page."

The rhetoric reflected the potentially pivotal nature of Tuesday's primary. Obama, the freshman Illinois senator, is hoping to sustain momentum from his caucus victory in Iowa, and Clinton is looking to recover from her stinging third-place finish.

Two polls released Sunday, aides to Obama said, explained his burst of confidence and unwillingness to engage Clinton or John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator who vowed Sunday to remain in the race through the Democratic convention.

Polls conducted

A poll conducted by CNN/WMUR-TV here showed that Obama had a 10-point lead over Clinton, while a USA/Today Gallup Poll showed that his lead had grown to 13 percentage points.

As the candidates went head-to-head on the campaign trail, they traded even sharper criticism in mailings, on the radio, and with telephone calls here.

Asked Sunday if the New Hampshire primary was a must-win for her, Clinton replied, "I don't think about it that way." But she also suggested a poor performance would lead to more retooling of her operation, saying: "If a campaign doesn't evolve, it's dead."

Clinton's newly aggressive posture is one advisers said she has wanted for days.

As her campaign in Iowa was struggling for the right words and tone last week, Clinton said on a telephone conference call with her advisers, "We've got to show a lot more fight," according to two of them.

At a rally in Nashua on Sunday, Clinton raised questions about Obama's voting record on Iraq.

"If you gave a speech, and a very good speech, against the war in Iraq in 2002, and then by 2004 you're saying you're not sure how you would have voted, and then by 2005, 6 and 7 you vote for $300 billion for the war you said you were against, that's not change!" Clinton said to a roaring audience.

Clinton cited five instances in which, she alleged, Obama's actions did not match his words. By the end, the audience was chanting "That's not change" along with her.

Information from the Chicago Tribune is included in this report