Political Buzz

• Romney is trying to ride the wave of success from last night’s debate performance and turn it into sustained momentum on the last full day of campaigning in New Hampshire. Mitt and his team feel very good about how he handled the debate - and are ecstatic about anecdotal reports showing that Romney might have won some real converts from McCain supporters and undecideds. Problem for Mitt is that those reports are still just that; anecdotal. The polls still have McCain in the lead just over the margin of error, thougha new Marist poll out this morning shows Romney has brought his level of support back up to where it was early last month in NH. Is it too late for Mitt’s comeback?

• Romney is out on the trail again today with a host of scheduled NH stops. His morning events have been filled with pitches that he can make a turnaround in New Hampshire and beyond and also several attacks against McCain. It’s been the usual anti-McCain rhetoric, pro-taxes and pro-amnesty, but the message of electability is also coming up today. Romney realizes that Obama is the new Dem frontrunner and he is putting out an argument that he feels JMac would “struggle” in a general election fight against Barack. Yet another angle for Granite State Republicans to chew on…
  • “And I frankly don’t think that Senator McCain, despite his service and his length of experience, that that’s going to be able to stand up to the message that Barack Obama has brought forward,”

• The Clinton campaign has Hillary and Bill travelling throughout New Hampshire to deliver a last-minute message that HRC’s run isn’t “dead” and that Obama is too flowery to be a good president that gets things done. Note the immediate replacement following of Iowa of her old one-word campaign slogan of “Change” with a new theme: “Ready.” As in “ready to lead,” something that Hillary needs to hammer home to NH Dems in order to beat back Obama’s more positive image. Interesting to note that HRC is opening up more on the trail with the press and with voters, taking questions and seeming less irritated that she is no longer the default juggernaut that she once was.

• More overflow crowds for Obama on the trail in New Hampshire today…

• A feisty Edwards is gaining support in New Hampshire - he may even make it a tight race for third place with Hillary - as he nears what will probably be the end of his chances at the victory. His populist message and harsh attacks on “entrenched special interests” and his Democratic rivals have continued yesterday and today, with especially tough talk for Hillary:
  • …the Clinton campaign criticized Edwards for including Sarkisyan’s story in his campaign. Clinton’s traveling press secretary, Jay Carson, told reporters, “in order to be President, you need to do more than read articles about people who need help and talk about them.” Senator Clinton is “somebody who’s actually going to help people and not use them as talking points.”At a media availability in Keene, New Hampshire, Edwards responded to those remarks:“It’s an indication that they have no conscience about what’s at stake here,” he said. “This is not about them. It’s about families like the Sarkisyans…the Lowes…the Lakeys, who desperately need a voice. That’s who it’s about.”

• Don’t forget to listen to a New Hampshire preview on the latest edition of the  ”Political Dispatch” podcast.

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Filed under: John McCain, Mitt Romney, New Hampshire, Democrats, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, The Blog