MANCHESTER, N.H. — Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton clashed Sunday in the slushy New Hampshire homestretch, deriding each other’s claims to be the true candidate of change.
Clinton told Democratic voters they should elect “a doer, not a talker.” Obama countered that his critics are stuck in the politics of the past.
At a raucous rally in a high school gymnasium in Nashua, Clinton skewered Obama for several votes he has cast in the Senate, 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; you govern in prose,” Clinton said.
Obama, speaking at a packed Manchester theater, took issue with Clinton’s criticism of him during Saturday’s presidential debate.
“One of my opponents said we can’t just, you know, offer the American people false hopes about what we can get done,” he 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.”
Tuesday’s primary could be pivotal for the Democrats. 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.
A CNN/WMUR poll released Saturday found Clinton and Obama tied at 33 percent each in the state, with John Edwards trailing at 20 percent.
Edwards, who barely beat Clinton for second place in Iowa, was joined Sunday by three families who suffered medical tragedies as he made an emotional case against insurance companies.
The former North Carolina senator told reporters that he and Obama offer real change to voters, while Clinton represents “the status quo.”
He also argued that he has more passion for change and would be more willing than Obama to fight for his goals.
“He just believes you can negotiate with people,” Edwards said of his rival.
Obama aides found themselves on the defensive after Clinton said in Saturday’s debate that Obama’s New Hampshire campaign co-chairman, Jim Demers, is a lobbyist whose clients include pharmaceutical companies.
Obama communications director Robert Gibbs said Demers is a state lobbyist and does not do business involving federal legislation or regulation.
He said the campaign has drawn a distinction between lobbyists who are registered to work at the state level and those who lobby the federal government.
The former first lady was clearly elated to be greeted by a large, enthusiastic audience of her own in the same Nashua high school that Obama filled the day before.
She took questions from several audience members after delivering a short, spirited stump speech — a marked contrast to her final appearances in Iowa, where she would give a long campaign address and leave, generally without taking questions.
Earlier, she and her daughter, Chelsea, braved slushy sidewalks to go door to door in Manchester for about an hour, seeking votes.
