Justin Webb's America

Battle for the middle

• Justin Webb
• 8 Jan 08, 06:50 AM GMT

To me, Hillary Clinton looked more exhausted than upset in her emotional moment here in New Hampshire.

But I have to say, of the candidates I have seen performing here the least exhausted has been the 71-year-old Senator John McCain. After his rally in Portsmouth, he looked bright-eyed and ready for the fray: and there is no question that his campaign - like Obama's last week - is feeling bullish.

I asked him how he would match up against Barack Obama but he refused to get into the subject. Fair enough: but this seems to me to be the big issue for McCain. In the absence of another terrorist attack, how does he convince a more relaxed "post war"-feeling nation, that a gritty, elderly man is the right choice? Still ,it would be a huge battle for the independent vote of the United States - the middle ground that both men are capable of attracting - and that might be no bad thing for America.

Meanwhile, my friend Sarah Smith, the able and forthright Washington Correspondent for Britain's Channel Four News, was caught out badly at a Clinton rally the other night. As the photo shows, she put on her fanciest clothes to attend the event, and found that the candidate had made the same choice!

I am sure Sarah is a fighter for women's rights and for Hillary Clinton's right to stand, but she had not previously seen the former First Lady as her fashion guru. Hillary may be re-thinking her life if she loses, but Sarah is already re-thinking her wardrobe...

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