Clinton: If race is about records, ‘I’m going to win by a landslide'

By NOLAN D. MCCASKILL

Hillary Clinton, a 17.5-percentage point underdog in New Hampshire, will not stop trying to gain ground on Bernie Sanders ahead of Tuesday’s first-in-the-nation primary.

“A lot of political pundits have been opining that I should have just skipped coming to New Hampshire,” Clinton said at a rally in Derry on Wednesday. “Well, their argument is, look, you're behind here — I am — you're in your opponent’s backyard, New Hampshire always favors neighbors, which I think is neighborly. Maybe you should have just moved onto these states…”

That thinking, Clinton said, is bunk.

“I just could not ever skip New Hampshire,” Clinton said. “I cannot even imagine not being here, not being in settings like this and where I was yesterday in Nashua, where I'll be later today and the day after. I'm going to be out here making my case, answering your questions, doing everything I can to persuade you to come out and vote next Tuesday.”

And she wouldn't concede defeat: “I hope we keep it on the issues, because if it’s about our records, hey, I’m going to win by a landslide,” Clinton declared.

The Sanders' campaign balked at Clinton's suggestion that New Hampshire voters were motivated by proximity, rather than ideology.

"Whether it’s equal pay, more secure retirement or affordable health care, the people of New Hampshire will go to the polls Tuesday and vote for the candidate they believe will fight for them," spokesman Michael Briggs said in a statement. "To repeatedly suggest otherwise is an insult to voters in the Granite State."

It was part of a day of back-and-forth sniping between the Clinton and Sanders camps.

Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook earlier accusing Sanders of resorting to negative attacks. In an MSNBC interview Wednesday, Sanders said he didn't like Clinton's high speaking fees after he was asked about them.

"I'm disappointed to see Bernie Sanders making these negative kinds of personal attacks. This is something he pledged not to do," Mook said. "He said he was a different kind of politician so it's disappointing to see that."

Mook also worked to temper expectations, saying Clinton is looking to tighten the gap in New Hampshire.

Clinton was officially declared the winner of the Democratic Iowa caucuses Tuesday, besting Sanders by margin of a 0.3 percentage points, but has struggled in recent weeks to diminish Sanders’ grip, as he has led in every state poll since early January.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/hillary-clinton-vows-new-hampshire-fight-218682#ixzz3zK849dCe