Clinton touts battle scars as a plus

MINNEAPOLIS -- Hillary Rodham Clinton is trying to make controversy and criticism her friends as she sprints across the country, on a presidential campaign she now admits will go on longer than she envisioned.

The Democrat's history as the chief saleswoman of a failed health care plan and as a favorite Republican punching bag prove she's got the stick-to-it-iveness and stamina to win, Clinton told voters from Los Angeles to Minneapolis over the weekend.

Though she "may be a little bit battle-scarred," a raspy-voiced Clinton told a crowd outside of St. Louis on Sunday, she is "somebody who not only survived but thrived" in the heat of political battle.

The New York senator said she had hoped to have the Democratic nomination wrapped up after Tuesday, when 22 states will hold primaries and caucuses.

"There are a complicated set of challenges from one end of the country to another," she told reporters. "We obviously hoped to wrap it up sooner instead of later. But for however long it might take, I'm going to be there contesting in every state."

In interviews, stump speeches and talks with voters, Clinton returned again and again to an episode in her career that stands out as a signal failure: Her effort to enact health care reform during the administration of her husband, former president Bill Clinton.

Now, Clinton is touting her health care proposal and her past record on the issue as "a big difference" between her and Democratic rival Barack Obama, whom she said "will not commit to universal health care."

Obama has conceded his plan won't offer immediate coverage for everybody, but says it will make health care more affordable.

Clinton argued that her much-maligned work as first lady proves her credentials on an issue that has emerged as one of the top concerns of voters this year. "I've always been somewhat bemused when someone says, 'I'm going to stand up to the special interests,' " she said here at Augsburg College. "I say, 'Where were you in 1993 and '94 when they were coming after me with everything they've got.' "