It’s not time for Hillary Clinton to start panicking yet, but the candidate soared into New Hampshire in the wee hours of Friday morning following a third-place finish in Iowa with a fresh sense of urgency swirling about the campaign.Though even her husband had played down expections prior to Iowa, her finish 8 points behind rival Barack Obama Thursday night was a wake-up call for Clinton, who from day one has been pegged the inevitable Democratic nominee. She’s still the well-funded candidate with the rock-star husband and a deep, national network of supporters – but the results from both the Democratic and Republican caucuses, where once-dark horse candidate Mike Huckabee sailed to victory over millionaire businessman Mitt Romney, were a sign that deep pockets and deep political roots aren’t the only asset in 2008.
As Obama rode to victory on the message of hope and change, Clinton seemed to adopt that rhetoric. On Friday she seemed to even adopt strains of rival John EdwardsÂ’ economic populism, bemoaning the reported .3 percent jump in the unemployment rate.