Hillary's campaign on track in a tiny state that matters

US Features

By Tony Czuczka Jun 4, 2007, 11:29 GMT

Manchester, New Hampshire - Few events can make or break a US presidential candidate like the primary votes in the tiny Atlantic state of New Hampshire. If that holds true in 2008, Hillary Clinton is solidly on track for now. The US senator for New York state emerged with her front-runner status intact after she and seven male Democratic hopefuls held their first debate in New Hampshire. It was the latest marker in a campaign that has hit speed early on, driven by the war in Iraq. Clinton, 59, touted her experience - eight years in the White House with former president Bill Clinton, more than six years in the Senate - and deflected sensitive questions about Iran's nuclear ambitions and whether the US should try to kill Osama bin Laden. Her top priority would be to bring US troops home from Iraq, she said. She did take heat from Senate colleague Barack Obama and John Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential candidate, for her early support of the Iraq war, a legacy that has hurt her among left-wing Democrats. But mostly, Sunday's debate was a polite affair. 'It seems like a lot of times they went along with Hillary Clinton's mantra: 'We're all more or less in agreement; whom we really disagree with is George W Bush and the Republicans,'' said Dante Scala, a political scientist at St Anselm's College, which hosted the debate. 'She didn't do anything spectacular, but she doesn't need to.' Clinton's aides were happy, saying she looked presidential. Poll numbers look good, too: In her quest to become the first female US president, she is comfortably ahead among Democratic voters nationwide and in New Hampshire. Obama, 45, has struggled to keep up the early momentum of last winter, when he dazzled voters and the media with his charm, freshness, charisma and inspirational oratory summed up in his book title, The Audacity of Hope. Born to a Kenyan father and a mother raised in Kansas, the Harvard Law School graduate opposed the Iraq war from day one. In May, following the lead of Edwards and Clinton, he offered a national health insurance plan to expand care to 45 million uninsured Americans and lower soaring medical costs. 'He's not a 10-second sound bite guy,' Obama's New Hampshire campaign co-chairman Jim Demers said on the fringes of the debate. 'He gives very thoughtful, detailed answers. New Hampshire voters like that. They're engaged and tuned in.' The New England state of 1.3 million jealously guards its role of the first state to hold a primary election, where party members vote for a presidential candidate. The result flows into the delegate count at the two major parties' national conventions, held after the primaries. 'It's very personal. The voters do come out, they query the candidates face to face, the candidates have to shake their hands, they have to answer their questions,' Demers said. 'It's not like a lot of the big states, where it's all TV-driven.' This year, the little state is in the spotlight earlier than ever. Campaigning began before Christmas 2007. Clinton came to Manchester to unveil a economic plan for American's struggling middle class on May 28. Ten Republican presidential candidates will hold their own debate in the city Tuesday. For 2008, New Hampshire is being squeezed by a series of bigger-prize rivals - including California, New York and Florida - that have moved up primaries to January 29 and February 5. But the first-in-the-nation tradition is likely to hold, because New Hampshire is such a cherished part of US political lore: From 1952 to 1992, nobody won the US presidency without winning the state's primary. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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NH StinksJun 4th, 2007 - 12:16:28

They feel it's their right to be first. I wish the candidates would boycott the state.

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hugepeterJun 4th, 2007 - 12:51:35

hillary could become a great politician.If you blog or have a webpage, include the latest news directly on your page.. just search for widgetmate on google..

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Old SchoolJun 4th, 2007 - 13:53:22

So you want to vote for a re-run. Check out the Dead and the Clinton's on the web and see just how many of their friends are 'DEAD' or 'MISSING'...The re-run took money from a Silicon Valley Lobbyist last week, after that Dell had a big lay-off now they want to bring in more foreign workers to train.....She has taken lots of money from Jewish lobbyist groups and will not tell anybody what the strings are attached to it....You don't get this sum of money for free..........

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New YorkerJun 4th, 2007 - 14:31:32

I was home when the planes hit. Home was less than a half mile from the WTC, and I resent a person whose house is in Westchester County says they live through the attacks and its aftermath. Hillary Clinton doesn't even have to remove her shoes when she boards her private flights, provided courtesy of InfoUSA, a company that makes its money by selling personal information on old lonely people, to swindlers.

Hillary Clinton voted for the war, she did not however read the report. Those blinders of hers, maybe fine for a wife, but for a leader, they're a liability.

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For votersJun 4th, 2007 - 14:54:01

it's a lose-lose situation. Obama wears his blinders nicely also. I don't believe there is anybody running (any party) willing to go out on the 'I will stop the war' limb. It's a political thing; I wouldn't understand.

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I don't want your productJun 4th, 2007 - 16:27:58

Thanks for the spam hugepeter

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Another New YorkerJun 4th, 2007 - 16:35:01

New Yorker Jun 4th, 2007 - 14:31:32

'I was home when the planes hit. Home was less than a half mile from the WTC, and I resent a person whose house is in Westchester County says they live through the attacks and its aftermath. Hillary Clinton doesn't even have to remove her shoes when she boards her private flights, provided courtesy of InfoUSA, a company that makes its money by selling personal information on old lonely people, to swindlers.

Hillary Clinton voted for the war, she did not however read the report. Those blinders of hers, maybe fine for a wife, but for a leader, they're a liability.'

Here here on all accounts neighbor. I am also a half mile away, hopefully one day I will be able to leave the memory of what was easily the most monstrous atrocity that I could have ever imagined behind. I believe we owe it to the people who were slaughtered though to finish this on out terms. That, and the miserable job she has done as our senator, the sleazy way in which she got her job, (Pardons for votes) and her ease at being a pathological liar is why I will be voting for anyone but Hillary Clinton.

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SP4: here she comes, Miss AmericaJun 4th, 2007 - 19:00:51

Hillary's got the inside staight with her lobbying the states democrats.

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TestJun 4th, 2007 - 20:05:34

This will be an interesting state primary. Obama will define his momentum there and Hillary must win. For her to lose, would be a disaster in the Clinton camp.

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SP4: Other interesting itemsJun 4th, 2007 - 20:25:37

I wonder if we will hear about:

Whitewater

FBI records scandal

Law Firm lost records

Vince Foster

Chinese and Russian campaign funds

What do you think? You think these will arise?

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God help usJun 5th, 2007 - 03:45:28

'What do you think? You think these will arise?'

I think our media has become so stratified that people can go to whatever source that best tells them what they want to hear. Choice combined with human nature has made the public more blinkered in other words. There are people who simply will not hear anything bad about Hillary Rodham Clinton. (You know, Demo-Zombies)

That said, I think you will be getting a tour of the golden oldies plus a few more sleazy, shady borderline felonies that they have undoubtedly committed since the spotlight switched to Bush and his long string of effortless successes. ;-)

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