ALREADY reeling from her third place in Iowa, Hillary Clinton was booed as she unveiled her new core message at the 100 Club Dinner for Democratic party notables in New Hampshire this weekend.

“There are two big questions for voters in New Hampshire. One is, who will be ready to lead from day one? The second,” she said, pausing for boos mixed with cheers from her supporters, “is who can we nominate to go the distance against the Republicans?”

Supporters of Barack Obama had packed the hall, bringing an unruly element to a dinner that is usually a sober affair. The Democratic party establishment, carefully built up by the Clintons in New Hampshire, was under siege.

The prospect of losing control of the White House race to a newcomer has panicked Clinton’s carefully choreographed campaign. They are tempted to go “negative” against Obama, but fear the backlash that taking down an inspirational African-American candidate would bring.

A race like a crackpot Dynasty

The contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton matches any fiction

Multimedia

• Full coverage: US elections

BACKGROUND

• The ascent of Barack Obama, Mr Charisma

• Decay, jobs and guns fall under the spotlight

• Free trade: Clinton/Obama's mistakes

Related Links

• Comeback Mac leads rival surge

• Hail the rise of a new JFK

Multimedia

• Video: Hillary booed in New Hampshire

Melanie Levesque, a state representative in Brookline, New Hampshire and a member of African-Americans for Hillary, said Obama lacked the experience to win the presidential election, echoing the official Clinton spin. However, she went on to add a few thoughts of her own, which are not far from the surface of the Clinton campaign.

“I’m very concerned that you can’t state [Barack Obama’s] middle name, you can’t state his record and you can’t state his past life,” she said. Asked if she was referring to Hussein, his Muslim middle name, and his admitted use of drugs, including cocaine, in his youth, she said, “Yes.”

Bill Shaheen was forced to resign as co-chairman of Clinton’s New Hampshire campaign when he made similar remarks last month. He said: “The Republicans are not going to give up without a fight . . . and one of those things they’re certainly going to jump on is his drug use.”

He suggested they would ask, “Did you ever give drugs to anyone? Did you sell them?”

A Clinton official said Bill Clinton called Shaheen to commiserate with him when he left the campaign. It was a matter of personal friendship, which did not suggest the former president condoned Shaheen’s behaviour, he said.

The Clinton camp believes the media have been softer on Obama than on Hillary Clinton and ought to do a better job of exposing his potential weaknesses. Sources hint there is a stack of negative material on the Illinois senator that has not seen the light of day.

One of Clinton’s first remarks, when her plane arrived in New Hampshire, was: “There are a lot of unanswered questions about all of us as candidates.” But she didn’t really mean to apply it to herself - she has already been thoroughly “vetted”, she said - and Obama is the only other candidate who counts.

The gap between the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary was deliberately compressed to shore up the “inevitability” of the semiofficial party candidate, but it has backfired on Clinton.

“It’s a short period of time, but enough to say, ‘Wait a minute’,” she said, striking a note of desperation.

Bill Galston, a former White House adviser under Bill Clinton, said: “With only a few days to go until New Hampshire votes [on Tuesday], it’s not clear that going negative against Barack Obama is going to work. If I were to give her campaign advice, it would be to make the strongest affirmative case for her that she can muster with all the passion and energy she can bring to bear.” Senior campaign officials admit it was a mistake for Clinton to portray herself as the “inevitable” winner. They now have a chance to sell her as the “comeback kid”, a tactic that worked for her husband when he came second in New Hampshire in 1992 despite damaging allegations about his private life.

Paul Begala, a former adviser to Bill Clinton, said: “America loves an underdog. Candidates can show character in defeat.”

Mark Penn, her leading strategist, said the campaign was focused on winning “Super Tuesday”, when more than 20 states will vote. “The critical day is February 5,” he said. “Bill Clinton lost five times before he won a race.”

Bill Clinton was a relatively unknown governor of Arkansas then and won over voters as he went along, but his wife’s image is already set in stone.

Penn is being heavily criticised internally for allowing her personality to be subsumed by a cautious, poll-driven campaign. There is little evidence, however, that an emphasis on likability in the closing days of the Iowa caucus worked any better than promoting her electability.

Insiders say Clinton would do better to stick to one message, but she has yet to find an inspirational theme for her candidacy. Critics say she infantilises voters by telling them, as she did in Iowa: “Every child needs a champion. Every American needs a president who is a champion and that is what I want to be.”

It is doubtful the presence of the former first family, including daughter Chelsea, can help her to win in New Hampshire.

Hillary Clinton still regards her husband as a key asset, saying: “It took a Clinton to clear up after the first Bush, and it may take another one to clear up after the second Bush.”

A veteran adviser to both Clintons said: “Hillary says she’ll change things, but voters see Bill and hear them talk about the 1990s, and it’s clear the Clintons are not offering change, but Clinton part two.”

Her supporters in New Hampshire are frequently “friends of Bill” such as Chris Spirou, the former chairman of the state’s Democratic party. “We need to get out of the habit of losing,” he said. “We don’t want to nominate somebody the Republicans can beat up.”

Spirou added: “I don’t think there was any way for anyone to predict the generation of 100,000 new voters, independents and students who showed up in Iowa, as well as Republicans who crossed the line to vote [for Obama].”

He made it sound as though it was a bad thing. If so, the Clinton era is heading for extinction.

Times Recommends

• Rio Tinto four held as China prepares case
• Diplomats must keep heads down and trousers up
• When in Rome should one make like Berlusconi?