by John McCormick
NASHUA, N.H. – Sen. Hillary Clinton suggested Sunday afternoon that her chief rival for the Democratic presidential nomination is a calculating politician and that his record needs more scrutiny.
“Sen. Obama has four pollsters, if I’m not mistaken,” Clinton told reporters, after finishing a rally here.
An Obama campaign spokesman had not yet responded to an e-mail asking whether the senator does, indeed, have four pollsters.
Clinton, meanwhile, called last night’s debate a “defining moment” in the campaign because it “finally began to draw the contrasts between us.”
The New York Democrat suggested voters do not yet know enough about Obama (D-Ill.).
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“Sen. Obama has said himself that records matter, and so, therefore, I think the records of all of us matter,” she said.
Answering questions from reporters for roughly 18 minutes, Clinton called the current battle a “very interesting” election.
“You have on that stage last night, an African-America, a Latino and a woman,” she said. “These are all history making candidacies, and I would be surprised if there wasn’t an enormous amount interest and enthusiasm. I feel it for me. I see it for Sen. Obama. I think that’s good for our country. So, I applaud everybody who is getting involved in this campaign. I certainly applaud his incredible ability to, you know, make a speech that really leaves people inspired…My point is that when the cameras disappear, when you’re there in the Oval Office having to make these tough decisions, I believe I am better prepared and ready to lead our country.”
Clinton said she enjoyed the chance during last night’s debate for the Democrats to join the Republicans on stage for handshakes and hugs.
“I thought it was a really interesting moment,” she said. “It’s an important, you know, symbol of how we have to respect each other and work to achieve the best for our country.”
Clinton repeated a message she used earlier during her rally here, but also include a reference to a leader in Obama’s New Hampshire campaign.
“If you are going to be railing about lobbyists, and then you have the chair of your campaign who is a major lobbyist in this state, I think that is an interesting piece of information for voters,” she said.
(Obama’s campaign maintains that the involvement of Jim Demers, a state lobbyist, does not violate his self-imposed ban on accepting contributions from federal lobbyists.)
“If you are going to give a speech against the war in Iraq, which was a very good speech, in 2002, and you say you are never going to vote for funding for the war, and then in 2004, you say you don’t know how you would have voted, and you thought George Bush was doing a good job with the war,” Clinton continued. “Then, when you’re in the Senate in 2007, you vote for $300 million worth of funding for the war, I think that’s relevant information…And on and on and on. And I think voters who are judging each and every one of us as we move toward this important election, should have information that enables them to draw the distinctions.”
With Obama now tied in a New Hampshire poll, Clinton said she wanted to better clarify the differences among the candidates.
“I thought the timing was right last night,” she said. “The debate opened the door, and I thought it was the time to draw the contrasts. Voters in New Hampshire are fiercely and famously independent and they want to know answers.”
Clinton said her campaign is moving forward, and not looking back at its third-place finish in last week’s Iowa caucuses.
“If a campaign doesn’t evolve, it probably is dead,” she said. “I don’t intend for it to be anything other than a winning campaign, so we’re just going to keep moving and reaching out and trying attract as many voters of all ages as we possibly can.”
Clinton was also asked about a cross on a bracelet she was wearing. The question came from Mike Flannery of Chicago-based CBS 2.
“Talk about the secular press,” Clinton said, drawing a laugh. “It’s a very special bracelet to me, personally.”
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E-mail your questions to us and we’ll answer as many as time allows.