by Jim Tankersley
NASHUA, N.H. — As New Hampshire voters go to the polls this morning, a tide is turning toward Sen. Barack Obama — in reporters’ inboxes, at least.
The Republican National Committee has for months flooded political correspondents with prolific and pointed e-mail attacks on Sen. Hillary Clinton. Spokesman Danny Diaz, a veteran message warrior from the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign, has mocked Clinton’s record, ridiculed her policy proposals as tax-hiking non-starters and generally delighted in any evidence that she was losing her frontrunner status in the Democratic primary field. (Often, he would send out poll numbers, without comment, that showed rivals gaining on Clinton.)
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But in the last two days, Diaz and the RNC have let up on Clinton a bit and trained their fire on Obama. “Openness and transparency. We’ve heard this before,” a message this morning declared, before linking to a Chicago Sun-Times blog item about secrecy surrounding Obama’s scheduled post-New Hampshire fundraisers.
Monday, after a wire story reported Obama recalling he was “broke” seven years ago, Diaz noted in a message that Obama was partner at a law firm back then: “Should Senator Obama make it to the general election,” he wrote, “I wonder if voters will have an issue with his credibility on economic / budget issues?” In another message, Diaz declared: “Should Obama make it to the general, his liberal record and tendencies will be exposed in a way they can’t be in a primary.”
The targeting shift appears to reflect a growing belief among Republicans that Obama, who won Iowa and leads in New Hampshire polls going into today’s vote, is looking more and more likely to be the Democratic nominee. GOP candidate Mitt Romney has retooled his stump speech – with a self-serving eye on linking Clinton to Sen. John McCain, his chief Republican rival here – to annoint Obama as the Democratic winner and a political slayer of long-serving senators.
In a televised debate on Saturday night, ABC’s Charles Gibson asked six Republican candidates to discuss why each of them would be the party’s best general-election opponent for Obama.
McCain told reporters on his campaign bus Sunday that Obama “has a very strong message of, let’s work together to get something done for the country … he’s campaigning extremely well.”
But he said Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards could still come back to beat Obama for the nomination. “I would not count Sen. Clinton out yet,” McCain said.
The RNC hasn’t. Nestled amidst the Obama attacks this week was a Diaz e-mail linking to a Des Moines Register editorial slamming Clinton for her comments that dismissed Iowa’s caucuses last week – after she finished third there – for disenfranching voters who work nights.