By Edward Luce in New Hampshire
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Hillary Clinton made clear yesterday that she is now pinning all her hopes for fighting back against Barack Obama on the so-called “Tsunami Tuesday”, when 22 states choose their candidate for the White House on the same night.
As she prepared for what the polls suggested was going to be a heavy defeat in the New Hampshire primary last night, the one time front-runner and former first lady said: “I think the nominating process ends at midnight on February 5. I look forward to campaigning across the country.”
Mrs Clinton also served notice that she plans use the 18 days between now and the next primary in South Carolina to “sharpen” the contrast between her and Mr Obama. “At some point the free ride ends,” she said.
In a sign of how Mrs Clinton plans to sharpen her message, Bill Clinton described Mr Obama's campaign of “hope” and “change” as a “fairy tale” and accused the media of swallowing it uncritically.
Mrs Clinton also plans a more aggressive drive to bring out Democratic women voters – traditionally her strongest backers.
But the real focus, say Clinton aides, will be on February 5 when 22 states, including New York and California, vote in the “Tsunami Tuesday” primary. Unlike in New Hampshire, where the overwhelmingly Obama- leaning block of independents are permitted to vote in either party's race, many of the February 5 states hold “closed primaries”, where only registered party members can vote.
美国大选还真是多变，转眼间很强势的希拉里就快要到处寻找救命稻草了……
不过暂时跟我们没什么关系，看热闹吧。
