Hopefuls in homestretch in N.H.; Clinton in Flint

Supporters listen as Republican presidential candidate New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks at a town hall-style campaign event Sunday at Hampton Academy in Hampton, N.H.
Supporters listen as Republican presidential candidate New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks at a town hall-style campaign event Sunday at Hampton Academy in Hampton, N.H.

NASHUA, N.H. -- New Hampshire voters will go to the polls Tuesday, but two days before the primary Hillary Clinton was in Michigan, other candidates said their campaigns will go on no matter how they do Tuesday, and Donald Trump said he doesn't need to win New Hampshire -- but he'd like to.

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AP

A young supporter celebrates Sunday after catching Bernie Sanders’ jacket at a rally at Great Bay Community College in Portsmouth, N.H. Sanders drew a large crowd for the event.

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Marco Rubio, attacked during Saturday night’s GOP presidential debate, worked to get back on message Sunday in Hudson, N.H., and at other appearances.

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AP

Supporters listen as Republican presidential candidate New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks at a town hall-style campaign event Sunday at Hampton Academy in Hampton, N.H.

At least two candidates, Govs. John Kasich of Ohio and Chris Christie of New Jersey, have hung all of their White House hopes on strong showings in New Hampshire, site of the nation's first primary.

Republican hopeful Marco Rubio is downplaying his rough outing in Saturday night's GOP debate while touting his overall campaign momentum after his third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, hoping to use that momentum to boost his chances in Tuesday's contest.

Trump, who finished second in Iowa, is pleased with his debate performance and place atop New Hampshire's GOP polls.

On the Democratic side, New Hampshire favorite Bernie Sanders and Clinton -- who narrowly won Iowa -- are avoiding predictions about Tuesday and looking beyond to South Carolina and Nevada, the next two states up in the nomination process.

But for other candidates, like Christie, Kasich and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the task is to make sure the closing argument here isn't their last.

Christie, fresh from a debate performance in which he battered Rubio, a first-term senator from Florida, as unprepared for the presidency, told a town-hall crowd Sunday in Hampton, N.H., that his exchanges with Rubio showed "who's ready. I am. He's not."

Then he shifted his focus to Kasich and Bush.

Christie offered Kasich lilting praise, calling him an effective leader of Ohio but saying Kasich's tenure is "like Candy Land" because he has worked with a GOP-run Legislature, versus the Democratic Legislature that Christie works with in New Jersey.

Taking a jab at Bush, Christie said, "Go to Jeb today and ask him how the joy is going," a reference to Bush's promise last summer to be "the joyful candidate" among Republicans.

In several appearances Sunday, Kasich avoided direct attacks on his fellow governors.

Bush opted to take on Trump and chided other candidates for not piling on. In Nashua, Bush said, "This guy is not a serious conservative and he's not a serious leader. And no one else is taking him on?"

The three governors have pitched their experience to GOP voters for months, but have struggled to keep Rubio from establishing himself as the alternative to Trump and Texas' Sen. Ted Cruz, who won Iowa.

Rubio was rattled by Christie's debate onslaught Saturday, repeating his standard critique of President Barack Obama several times and playing into Christie's argument that the first-term senator is a scripted, inexperienced politician from a do-nothing Congress.

"You have not been involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable," Christie told Rubio. "You just simply haven't."

Rubio was back on message Sunday. "People said, 'Oh, you said the same thing three or four times.' I'm going to say it again," Rubio said in Londonderry, N.H.

Rubio said earlier on ABC's This Week that his belief about Obama's job performance is "one of the main reasons why I am running."

Trump, who was to campaign later Sunday, continued to insist in a CNN appearance that he came in first in Iowa, losing only because representatives of the Cruz campaign spread false rumors that Ben Carson was dropping out. Trump says Carson backers switched their votes to Cruz.

"I don't think I have to win" New Hampshire to keep his place among the top contenders for the nomination, Trump said Sunday on CNN, emphasizing, however, that he wants to win first.

Carson said late Saturday that Cruz approached him during an off-camera break at ABC's Republican debate to apologize for his campaign's conduct during the Iowa caucuses and requested a one-on-one meeting with him.

"He said he's sorry that this happened and he wants to sit down and talk," Carson said in an interview with The Washington Post. "He wants to discuss the whole thing and clear the air."

The retired neurosurgeon said he mostly listened when his Republican rival approached him on stage but did agree to hear Cruz out in the coming days. They did not set a date.

"To be determined," Carson said when asked where they may meet. "Doesn't matter."

Cruz blamed CNN for last Monday's mix-up.

"Let me tell you the facts of what occurred for those who are interested in knowing. On Monday night, about 6:30 p.m., CNN reported that Ben was not going from Iowa to New Hampshire or South Carolina. Rather, he was, quote, 'Taking a break from campaigning.' ... I regret that subsequently, CNN reported on that -- they didn't correct that story until 9:15 that night. So from 6:30 p.m. to 9:15, that's what CNN was reporting."

CNN responded Saturday, calling the senator's characterization of its coverage "categorically false."

"The Cruz campaign's actions the night of the Iowa caucuses had nothing to do with CNN's reporting. The fact that Senator Cruz continues to knowingly mislead the voters about this is astonishing," the network said in a statement.

On NBC's Meet The Press Sunday, Trump stood by his promise in Saturday's debate to reinstitute waterboarding as an interrogation method for foreign prisoners of the U.S.

The practice, accepted as torture internationally and now forbidden by U.S. law, is "peanuts" compared to what Islamic State group members practice, Trump said. "I'd go a lot further than waterboarding," Trump said.

For Democrats, Sanders drew another large crowd Sunday in Portsmouth, N.H., where he reprised his indictment of a "rigged economy" and "corrupt campaign finance system."

Taking a break from the New Hampshire campaign trail, Clinton stopped in Flint, Mich., which continues to deal with the fallout of a lead-contaminated water system.

At the House of Prayer Missionary Church, Clinton noted that for two years, Flint residents drank poisoned water despite officials declaring it safe. "This is not merely unacceptable or wrong, though it is both. What happened in Flint is immoral," Clinton said.

Aides said Clinton was invited by Flint Mayor Karen Weaver to address the crisis of lead-poisoned water, a case that she has cited in Iowa and New Hampshire as an example of racial and economic injustice. It is an issue that resonates among Democrats, particularly black voters who play a major role in later contests in South Carolina and a swath of "Super Tuesday" states on March 1; Michigan's primary is March 8.

From the pulpit, Clinton urged Congress to provide $200 million to fix Flint's water system, saying it was "no time for politics as usual."

The chair of the Michigan Republican Party, Ronna Romney McDaniel, accused Clinton of using Flint families as "political pawns" and said the visit was a "calculated campaign tactic -- an attempt to grab headlines by a struggling campaign."

Sanders has worked to boost his profile among black voters who make up more than half of South Carolina's Democratic primary electorate.

He made only passing reference to the crisis in Flint at a campaign rally in Portsmouth, rarely straying from the central economic themes of his candidacy.

"There is one area where not only are we not making progress, we are losing ground, and that is the economic struggle," he told 1,200 supporters.

Sanders' backers believe that as blacks learn more about the Vermont senator, they will warm to his liberal message, pointing to a endorsement this week by former NAACP President Ben Jealous. Clinton is one of the best known political figures in the world and has strong backing among Latinos and black voters.

Clinton also said a Treasury secretary doesn't need to have a Wall Street pedigree to be successful, but stopped short of committing to appointing an outsider to the post should she be elected president.

It's unclear what the term means to Sanders, Clinton said in an interview Sunday on Meet the Press.

"When you talk about Wall Street, are we talking about every bank or are we talking about a particular part of New York? That's never really clarified. What I believe is that there are good actors and bad actors in every part of our economy," Clinton said.

"You have to have a Treasury secretary who understands the economy" in the U.S. and the world, said Clinton. "I think there are a lot more places where one can and should look for such a Treasury secretary."

Information for this article was contributed by Sergio Bustos, Bill Barrow, Laurie Kellman, Thomas Beaumont, Holly Ramer, Kathleen Ronayne, David Eggert, Ken Thomas, Lisa Lerer of The Associated Press; and by Alan Bjerga of Bloomberg News.

A Section on 02/08/2016

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