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HILLARY: NOW IT GETS NASTY

Hillary Clinton made a last ditch appeal to voters

Wednesday January 9,2008

By Joanna Walters in New York

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AMID tears and fraying tempers, Hillary Clinton was staring defeat in the face last night in her bid for the White House.

Her chief Democrat rival Barack Obama was storming to another audacious victory in the crucial New Hampshire primary.

So desperate have members of her team become that one even hinted yesterday that Obama, 46, could be assassinated if he becomes America’s first black President.

Suddenly the bookies’ favourite to become the Democratic Party nominee and storm the White House in the November general election, Obama is on the verge of sinking Hillary’s career.

His supporters have been moved to tears by his speeches promising “hope and change”.

A desperate Clinton criticised him for comparing himself to John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King – who were gunned down at the height of their power.

Hillary, 60, accused Obama of raising “false hopes” and relying on the “poetry” of his speeches.

Her younger rival fired back that his message of hope was no more false than Kennedy’s successful bid to put a man on the moon and King’s fight to end racial segregation.

Clinton has repeatedly sneered at Obama’s inexperience, running for President less than two years after becoming a Senator for Illinois.

Yesterday she said: “You know, Obama used JFK and Martin Luther King to criticise me. He basically compared himself to our greatest heroes. But Kennedy was in Congress for 14 years. He was a war hero and a man of great readiness to be President. King led a movement.

“I’m running for President because there is not a contradiction between experience and change.”

But after her third place defeat in Iowa last week and then steeling herself for failure in New Hampshire, Clinton lost not only her cool but also her emotional composure.

When asked by women in a cafe how she was coping, her eyes filled with tears. “I just don’t want to see us fall backwards as a nation,” she said.

Choking, she continued: “I mean, this is very personal for me. Not just political. Some people think elections are a game – who’s up or who’s down – but it’s about our country.”

Later a campaign aide Francine Torge was condemned for comments made while introducing Clinton. “Some people compare one of the other candidates to John F Kennedy. But he was assassinated,” said Torge ominously.

A Clinton spokesman later said her remarks were “totally inappropriate”.

He said: “We were not aware that this person was going to make those comments and disapprove of them completely.”

Vietnam war veteran John McCain looks to have won the Republican primary in New Hampshire in an unexpected comeback.

Now Clinton needs her own revival in time for Super Tuesday on February 5, when half the states vote.

The winners then will almost certainly bag their party’s nomination.