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    New Hampshire Redux?
    By Scott Galindez
    t r u t h o u t | Report

    Tuesday 19 February 2008

Sen. Hillary Clinton addresses an estimated crowd of 4,000 in Madison, Wisconsin. The crowd included many young voters, a sign she may have made inroads with voters who usually support Sen. Barack Obama. (Photo: Scott Galindez / Truthout)

    Madison, Wisconsin - On the eve of the New Hampshire primary, a Hillary Clinton rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, was diverse in age with many young supporters. Events in Iowa and South Carolina lacked young voters who flocked to Obama.

    On the eve of the Wisconsin primary, the crowd filling the Monona Terrace in Madison was diverse in age with lots of vocal young Clinton supporters. They were not just there to see a celebrity, they were there to support Hillary Clinton.

    Once again, the polls and pundits expect Obama to win, but Obama's lead in the polls has vanished and one poll now has Clinton in the lead. Both sides spent time in Wisconsin today. They actually shadowed each other. Chelsea went to Beloit College in the afternoon, while Michelle Obama was in Madison. Barack Obama spent the night at Beloit College, while Hillary Clinton was in Madison.

Michelle Obama shown here demonstrating the bar - the standard for success - that keeps getting higher and higher, both for the Obama campaign and for the American people. (Photo: Scott Galindez / Truthout)

    At the Overture Center in Madison, Michelle Obama talked about the bar - the standard for success - that keeps getting higher and higher, both for the Obama campaign and for the American people. She spoke about how each step of the way in the campaign, as her husband achieves the unexpected, the bar keeps being raised. She went on to say the bar keeps moving for the American people as well: "Most Americans can't catch the bar." And when people can't catch the bar, Obama said, they get tired, cynical and fearful and they pass those frustrations on to the next generation. "I'm here because I don't want that for my girls," said Obama, who has two young daughters with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama. "We should be in a position in 2008 where our children ... should be able to imagine any kind of future for themselves ... and know they have the resources of an entire country behind them. That's what I want for my kids. We're not there yet."

    A few hours later and less than a mile away, Wisconsin Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin introduced Senator Clinton to a packed hose of several thousand. Baldwin highlighted her commitment to universal health care as the reason she was backing the senator from New York to be president.

    Clinton then took the stage, gave a spirited speech, and several times took jabs at Obama.

One supporter of Senator Clinton in Madison donned the famous cheesehead gear. (Photo: Scott Galindez / Truthout)

    "We shouldn't take a leap of faith when electing the next president," said Clinton, who also spoke about choosing substance over rhetoric.

    "We don't need a leap of faith," Clinton said. "We don't need to have a beer with the next president. We had that president. But you know I'd be happy to have a beer too. We can talk about how to solve our problems."

    Barack Obama lit into likely Republican presidential nominee John McCain at Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin, telling the crowd McCain doesn't deserve four years in the White House since he doesn't have a plan for getting out of Iraq.

    Obama also addressed the latest allegation from the Clinton campaign. In a conference call Monday morning, Congressman James McGovern (D-Massachusetts), a Clinton supporter, and Clinton's communication director Howard Wolfson accused Obama of plagiarizing a section of a speech by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

    During his speech, Obama told the crowd he regularly shares ideas with Patrick, who has endorsed Obama, campaigned for Obama and helped him write speeches in the past. Patrick called the allegation "groundless."

    This dust-up could pose a problem for Obama because it is a major topic of conversation on the eve of the Wisconsin primary. The race may be very close here. If Clinton can pull out a win, it could slow down Obama's momentum heading into critical races in Ohio and Texas on March 4.