by Mike Dorning

PENACOOK, N.H.—The Clinton camp says it is unimpressed by reports today of huge crowds at a campaign event for Barack Obama or the frenzy of enthusiasm he received last night from the audience at Democratic party fundraising dinner attended by presidential candidates.

"How you do on Jan. 8 is not based on how large your crowds are or how loud they were at one dinner," Clinton spokesman Jay Carson said, responding to questions from reporters after a Clinton campaign event here.

Carson said the Clinton campaign still anticipates a strong showing in the New Hampshire primary.

"We've always said Sen. Obama is a great orator. He gives a good speech," Carson continued, adding that his own candidate is "steeped in knowledge and experience."

Of course, Carson can draw on his own experience. He was press secretary Howard Dean, whose 2004 campaign stirred massive displays of enthusiasm until it collapsed upon contact with real voters at the Iowa caucuses and then the New Hampshire primary.

People listen as Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton talks during a campaign stop at Merrimack Valley High School January 5, 2008 in Penacook, New Hampshire. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

by Mike Dorning

PENACOOK, N.H.—Striving to highlight her command of policy issues and perhaps cultivate an image of greater accessibility, Hillary Clinton is reconstructing her campaign style to open herself to lengthy questioning from New Hampshire voters.

At a rally this morning, she jettisoned most of her stump speech and instead opened the floor to questions, devoting more than an hour and a half to answering 22 questions posed by members of the audience.

Reporters who have been following Clinton campaign appearances regularly for the past year said they could not recall the last time the former first lady had allowed such extensive questioning at a rally.

Clinton has developed a reputation for wariness toward unfiltered questioning. Her campaign workers were caught planting questions with an audience in Iowa over the summer, an embarrassing incident was widely publicized.

She did not take any questions at most events during the final days before the Iowa caucuses, although throughout most of the campaign season she followed custom and allowed a short question and answer session at events.

Campaign aides stressed that Clinton would be opening herself to plenty of questions in the three days of campaigning left before the New Hampshire primary.

“The New Hampshire way is to take questions. She wants to take questions from everyone,” said Clinton spokesman Jay Carson. “She has the experience and knowledge to answer questions from everyone.”

So was her more scripted approach in Iowa a mistake?

“We’re in New Hampshire now,” Carson responded. “I’ll let you guys do a post-mortem on past elections.”

By Mike Dorning

PENACOOK, N.H.—Call her the dutiful hostess. Or the anxious politician. Or the unreformed control freak.

But it quickly became apparent why Sen. Hillary Clinton was standing stern-faced in front of the oversized American flag at Merrimack Valley High School as she was introduced.

All around the gymnasium were the very thing that politicians most hate to see, even more so when they have suffered a loss that leaves them vulnerable to a media storyline of waning momentum: empty seats.

Almost as bad, backed up in the school hallway were unhappy voters, lined up and unable to glimpse the candidate whom they had risen early on Saturday morning to come see.

And standing between them was a determined fire marshal.

So Clinton had barely launched into her stump speech when it all became too much for her.

“Mr. fire marshal, we’ve got empty seats,” she declared from the platform, summoning the audience members to make her case. “Everyone raise your hand if you have a seat next to you.”

A few more people are allowed to enter. But, evidently, not enough for this candidate.

“Mr. fire marshal, we’ve got seats down here,” she interrupted herself again, motioning to the front rows and halting her stump speech to vamp pleasantries about New Hampshire to wait for more people to file in.

Still not good enough. “Mr. fire marshal, we’ve got bleacher seats as well,” she motioned, stirring campaign aides to action removing a sign evidently deemed an obstacle.

So Hillary Clinton got her wish: a full gymnasium.

But not every visitor may have been so welcome. As Clinton opened the floor to questions, the first person to stand up began by pointing out the man surrounded by a camera crew standing just to the side of the platform.

“Oh, look,” said Clinton, spotting a Clinton nemesis and FOX News commentator, “Bill O’Reilly’s here.”

by Mike Dorning

NASHUA, N.H.—Hillary Clinton campaign officials assembled a conference call with political reporters a few minutes ago to boast of the campaign’s organizational strength following the former first lady’s disappointing third-place finish in the opening Iowa caucuses.

Clinton national campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe also said in the call that the campaign would launch a series of new television ads in New Hampshire tonight and Saturday. He did not describe them in advance and a spokesman contacted afterward declined to do so..

The call was remarkable in tone for offering reassurances on the durability of a presidential campaign that was once thought to be a nearly unstoppable juggernaut. A hoarse-sounding McAuliffe emceed uniformly optimistic reports from key campaign officials in virtually all of the major early voting states, including New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina and California, the prize of the Feb. 5 “Super Tuesday” contests.

McAuliffe claimed that Clinton’s presidential bid would move into the next phase of the campaign powered by abundant financial resources, a large campaign organization and broad backing from the party’s political establishment.

“We’ve got the resources to go on. Hillary is fired up,” said McAuliffe, a former Democratic National Committee chairman and longtime political ally of the Clinton family. “Hillary is still a strong leader as we go on in this process.”

McAuliffe said the campaign already has raised “nearly $110 million.” With an additional $10 million left over from Clinton’s Senate re-election campaign, that has given her “nearly $120 million” for the election so far. Neither McAuliffe nor a campaign spokesman contacted afterward would provide crucial information on how much of that remained in the bank available to spend.

By Mike Dorning

NASHUA, N.H.—The war in Iraq may not be popular with the broad national public. But John McCain still charged into the final stretch of the New Hampshire primary campaign highlighting his unwavering support for the U.S. troop presence there.

McCain chose as the site for his first public speech of the day a defense contractor that supplies the Iraq war effort.

“I believe I can make America safe. I am confident we are succeeding in Iraq,” McCain told employees of BAE Systems.

McCain also vowed that as president he would eliminate the leader of Al Qaeda, who has remained at large since Sept. 11.

“I will get Osama bin Laden, my friends. I will follow him to the gates of Hell,” the senator said.

BAE Systems, which employs about 5,000 people in New Hampshire, supplies MRAP (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles for Iraq and electronic countermeasures to combat roadside mines. Before McCain appeared at a town hall meeting of employees, executives of the company showed the senator a guidance system for air-to-ground rockets that BAE is developing.

McCain told BAE employees “things are getting better in Iraq thanks to this new strategy--and thanks very frankly to the equipment that you are providing these brave young men and women.”

Both of New Hampshire’s Republican U.S. House members were unseated in the 2006 mid-term election in large part because of dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq.

But the Iraq war remains much more popular among the Republicans who dominate the party’s primary and McCain has sought to burnish his national security credentials as a contrast with his main rival in the primary, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has minimal foreign affairs experience.

Charlie Bass, one of the New Hampshire Republican congressmen who was unseated in the 2006 election, endorsed McCain today.

McCain also has secured the support of Walt Havenstein, president of BAE Systems, who introduced the senator at the event. Havenstein told employees that he already has cast an absentee ballot for McCain.

by Mike Dorning

NASHUA, N.H.—After a disappointing third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, Hillary Clinton arrived in New Hampshire four days before the primary here declaring that it was “time for people to say wait a minute.”

Running about an hour late for a morning rally in a hangar at Nashua Airport, Clinton did not present any new lines of argument for her candidacy but grew more pointed in her familiar claim that she is the most tested of the party’s presidential candidates.

The rally, in which the crowd held up blue “Ready” placards and the candidate drove off in bus painted with slogan “Big Challenges. Real Solutions,” was the only public appearance scheduled until an evening speech at a Democratic party gathering. A spokesman said the candidate would make one impromptu stop at a café but otherwise use the rest of the day for “private events.”

Appearing with her husband Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea, the former first lady began by focusing on economic anxieties, noting government figures released this morning that showed a sharp increase in the unemployment rate.

“I predict to you that we are just at the beginning of a very tough economic year,” Clinton said. “Now, we can handle this--if we have the right leadership that understands what it will take to put our country back on the path to prosperity and the world back on a path to peace.”

Sen. John McCain at a campaign event at Pelham High School December 19, 2007 in Pelham, New Hampshire. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images)

 by Paul West

WASHINGTON--This strangest of Christmas weeks - when presidential candidates are asking last-minute shoppers for last-minute support - has bestowed an embarrassment of riches on John McCain.

     The upshot: his chances of winning the Republican nomination, which once seemed all but gone, are glowing brighter at exactly the right time.

       The Union Leader in Manchester, N.H., an influential conservative voice, gave McCain its endorsement, which could reassure Republicans who still wonder if he's truly one of their own. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000, delivered his support, bolstering McCain's image for bipartisanship.

          His rivals in the Republican presidential contest have been unusually generous. Take Mike Huckabee. The fast-rising Republican contender starts to gush when he talks about McCain.

          "I think he's one of the most honorable individuals in this nation. I personally like him. I also professionally respect him," Huckabee said on CNN last weekend. "You won't ever hear me saying something unkind or untoward toward this person who I believe to be a great American hero."

        It's what Huckabee is doing on the ground in Iowa, though, that could deliver the most tangible gift. His surge has pushed Mitt Romney down to second place. If Huckabee holds on, it would reshape the Republican contest and give McCain's candidacy new life, even though McCain figures to finish far back on caucus night.

by Jason George

MANCHESTER, N.H. – "Hello Mr. George. I'm calling to see what you thought about Senator Obama and Oprah Winfrey last night?

An energetic Obama volunteer just called and asked me this question – not because I covered the Manchester event for the Tribune, but because I also signed up online to receive an ordinary ticket, which required handing over my email address and phone number.

Such contact details are a rich data mine of opportunity for the campaign to reach any undecided voters, and staff and volunteers will be calling each and every one of the 6,000 - 8,500 people who spent their Sunday night at the Verizon Wireless Arena, said Reid Cherlin, Obama's New Hampshire spokesman.

Calls will be going out from all of Obama's 16 state offices until they make it through the list.

"It's to reenergize the supporters. And for people who are perhaps new to the political process, in general, it's an important moment," Cherlin said.

It's not one the campaign plans to let slip by.

by Jason George

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Early crowds waiting to enter the Verizon Wireless Arena and see Sen. Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey got a good dose of political theater tonight – even before they went inside.

There were sign-waving supporters of presidential candidates Sen. Chris Dodd, Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Rep. Ron Paul, all hoping to steal some of the light off the big tent. Other folks chanted in favor of world peace, and against global warming, including a suited polar bear, Frosty and Santa. (Perhaps the only three warm creatures outside.)

Elana Weintraub, 5, squealed and waved in the direction of Frosty, while she and mom Shana Potvin performed jumping jacks to keep warm in a line that wormed its way around the building. Potvin said the night, for her, was all about Sen. Obama.

"It's about his message of hope and change," she said.

Vincent Vassallo and Dan O'Brien said they could care less about that message – Vassallo is for Sen. Mike Gravel and O'Brien for Gov. Mike Huckabee – but both said the Oprama Road Show was the best ticket in town tonight.

Plus, it's a local tradition to check out all the candidates.

"It's the New Hampshire way," O'Brien chuckled.

In this image from AP Television News, S.W.A.T. team members escort a hostage out of Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign office in Rochester, N.H. Friday Nov. 30, 2007. (AP Photo/APTN)

by Jill Zuckman, updated at 6:39 pm

Update:

A mentally ill man released all of his hostages from the Clinton campaign office in Rochester, N.H. and police took him into custody this evening, ending a tense afternoon that brought out swarms of police, sharpshooters and media to the small seacoast town.

Leland Eisenberg, the Rochester man who entered the office with a bomb-like device strapped to his chest, had said he was having trouble getting mental health help and wanted to talk to Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).

Two hostages inside the Clinton campaign office had released earlier in the day.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign said it would release information when appropriate following a hostage situation in its Rochester, N.H. campaign office.

A man with a bomb strapped to his chest has taken two campaign workers hostage, according to WMUR-TV.

by Mike Dorning

MANCHESTER, N.H.—Barack Obama continues his efforts to sharpen distinctions with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton on their credentials as champions for change in Washington's political culture.

Obama, who has promoted his refusal of campaign contributions from federal lobbyists and earlier this summer released a plan to limit lobbyist influence, announced additional proposals for improving government openness today during his opening fall campaign swing.

"It's no secret that most Americans think the country is on the wrong track," Obama said this morning. "But the reason isn't just failed policies. It's a system in Washington that has failed the American people."

The two Democratic presidential front-runners each have kicked off their fall campaigns focused on the dual concepts of "change" and "experience."

Clinton, with eight years in the White House as First Lady and seven years in the U.S. Senate, argues her background in hardball Washington politics will make her the more effective agent of change. Obama, with only three years in the U.S. Senate, argues that a wholesale change of culture is needed and his experience outside Washington suggests he would be the more committed reformer.

by Mike Dorning

MANCHESTER, N.H.--Barack Obama kicked off his fall campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination today by turning to the same theme his chief rival stressed in her opening salvo a day earlier: experience in national politics.

Former First Lady Hillary Clinton wants voters to remember that she is a battle-scarred veteran of Washington's bitter political wars and Obama is not.

Obama, who was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004, is reminding voters of the same thing.

And at a time when high dissatisfaction with government—particularly among Democratic voters—Obama argues that the distinction works in his favor.

Without referring to Clinton by name, the Illinois senator sounded the theme at a rally in central Manchester on a warm, sunny morning that drew hundreds of supporters.

"There are those who tout their experience working the system in Washington," Obama said, in a clear reference to Clinton, "but the problem is that the system in Washington isn’t working for us and hasn’t for a long time."

Posted by John McCormick at 12:39 p.m. CDT

HANOVER, N.H. -- After a relatively quiet weekend in northern New Hampshire, Sen. Barack Obama is ending his two-day swing through the state here on the campus of Dartmouth College. And the crowds are back.

Hundreds -- probably thousands -- of people are lined up waiting for Obama's outdoor rally, scheduled to start at 1:10 p.m. Chicago time. After the rally, Obama is set to meet with reporters before heading to Iowa for a Monday evening event. On Tuesday, he will outline his health care proposal in Iowa City.

Posted by John McCormick at 10:21 a.m. CDT

LITTLETON, N.H. -- Sen. Barack Obama paid his Memorial Day respects here by laying a wreath in front of a war memorial outside the town's community center.

"This is a day in which we reflect on those who have fallen and the incredible sacrifices that they made on behalf of all of us," he told reporters before his first political event of the day here at a senior center.

Before his arrival, a television crew modified nature, so that a branch from a tree would not interfere with the shot.