By wplog

Published Saturday, Jan. 5, 2008 | 8:10 a.m.

Updated Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008 | 2:14 p.m.

CONCORD, N.H. -- I've just returned from the 100 Club dinner in Milford, N.H., which is sort of like New Hampshire's version of Iowa's pre-caucus Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner, a fundraiser beauty pageant.

Sen. Hillary Clinton had a big crowd there, but the event turned into a rally for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. His crowd rushed the stage like it was a U2 show. Indeed, he's coming out to U2's "City of Blinding Lights," which subtly echoes Reagan/Winthrop's "Shining City on a Hill."

Told to disperse, they more or less refused. Obama drew on the themes of his Iowa victory speech, which in one form or another he's been giving for a couple weeks, itself a variation of his early November Iowa Jefferson-Jackson speech. Clinton likewise leaned on her stump speech, which is strong in its own right. Because of Obama's abilities, hers are often forgotten. She's so much better than she was just six months ago.

The New York Times reports in Saturday's paper on the campaign's attempt to re-tool in time for Tuesday's New Hamsphire primary. It's not pretty. Lots of backbiting between Bill's people and Hillary's people, everyone unnamed. One choice complaint has Bill and Mark Penn, the pollster and chief strategist, spending too much time studying polls to realize what was happening. (For a campaign derided as "poll-driven," that's an ugly anecdote.)

The story does clear up one consistent rumor around these parts about Clinton going negative. The campaign will not. There's no time for it to be effective.

Instead, they'll hope for an Obama mistake at Saturday's debate and hit him in the media. "Draw sharp contrasts," as Clinton says. But as Ben Smith of Sun partner Politico points out, there's a lot more talking about drawing contrasts than actual drawing of contrasts.